TMA02 Essay Plan
Outline the argument that rubbish is not worthless

Introduction

Describe briefly what rubbish is and the meaning of the word value
Write a bit about consumer society
Reference to Contemporary UK society and ‘consumer society’ defining who we are by what we buy and how we use the things we buy rather than what we do for a living differentiation between industrial and consumer society

Main Body

Talk about the main correlation and effect affluence has on consumer society? mention the amount of rubbish increasing due to mass consumption in today's consumer society.
Moving on from an industrial society from which people defined themselves by what they did for a living to now, people defining themselves by what they buy and what they do with the things that they buy.
The economic value of rubbish? Maybe talk about environmental waste businesses that make money from removing, disposing and recycling.
The effects on the environment and the education in both households and schools when it comes to recycling distributed more.
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The aesthetic value of objects and how they can lose value over-time.
Thompson’s Theory on regaining value after reaching ‘zero value’ or ‘almost zero value’
Talk about the stevensgraphs as an example for this and the eccentric decisions made by a few helped with the gaining of value as ‘collectors’ item
Supply and demand and how this changes the value of stevensgraphs
Use the example of cars moving through the rubbish to durable category

Conclusion

Conclude argument with a summary of what you have discussed in the main body of this essay
Add the points made and sum up with ‘from this we can argue..’
End essay with reference to TMA question to close

TMA 02
Outline the argument that rubbish is not worthless

In this essay I will attempt to outline the argument that rubbish is not worthless by discussing the ways in which rubbish has value within today’s ‘consumer society’. Consumer society is ‘a label used to refer to a society which is defined as much by how and what people purchase and use as by what they make or do’ (Hetherington, 2009, pg. 13) and where shopping has become more of a lifestyle activity, not just something that has to be done to purchase ‘the essentials of life’. Consumer society differs from earlier industrial societies as people are now defining themselves more by what they consume and how they consume it than their professions. As affluence has risen significantly since 1990 (Brown 2009 fig 2 pg. 112), this has meant people are able to afford a higher standard of living and are therefore spending more on inessential goods and services that will eventually, need to be disposed of. This can also help to explain the increase in the amount of rubbish as people are buying more products and are able to replace them more often. Rubbish is described as ‘something that has no value’ or ‘zero value’ (Brown 2009 pg. 105) and may only be something valuable if it is of value to someone. Nevertheless, the sense of the word ‘value’ when describing rubbish can differentiate and what appears to be rubbish to one person, may be of some value to another. In some cases unwanted goods are passed on in other ways, such as, unwanted household items and personal goods can be donated to charities where they are valued more.

It is not only unwanted personal or household goods that are disposed of, there is also the issue ‘waste’ and the processes in which this waste is disposed of. ‘The food we waste’ report (WRAP, 2008a, 2008b. cited in Brown 2009 pg. 106) is an example of the sheer volume of food thrown away per year. It was calculated that the UK disposes of around ‘6.7 million tonnes of food’ the equivalent to ‘£420 per year’. This report also produced a ‘standard for good food management’ to provide a benchmark to control the amount of