Waste Not

The text analyzes 'industrial metabolism,' contrasting the circularity of biological systems with the linear, wasteful nature of industrial production. It quantifies the massive scale of material waste in the United States, the social waste of unemployment and incarceration, and the financial waste embedded in the GDP. The author contends that GDP is a flawed metric because it counts environmental and social decay as economic growth, and calls for a new economic model that values natural and human capital to ensure long-term viability.

• Industrial systems operate linearly, extracting high-quality natural capital and returning it as waste, unlike biological systems which utilize continual feedback loops to recycle elements like carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen.
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is criticized as a misleading indicator of progress because it fails to distinguish between desirable and undesirable expenditures, effectively counting environmental degradation and social breakdown as economic gain.

APA

RMI (n.d.). Waste Not. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_NCchapter3.pdf

Chicago

RMI. Waste Not. n.d. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_NCchapter3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Waste Not |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_NCchapter3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmindwaste, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Waste Not}}, institution = {RMI}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_NCchapter3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }