This week we heard that 69 containers of our mislabelled, non-recyclable garbage is being repatriated back to Canada after 6 years of diplomatic discussions around who should take responsibility for the waste shipment.

Yes, you read correctly - 6 years.

Thinking about this diplomatic clash and PR nightmare, I still see signs of our collective denial over the core waste issue we are facing and its scale. Our issue is not in mislabelling our waste, nor is it in limited management solutions. I believe our core issue centres around the creation of waste. A lack of intentional vision around creating a sustainable society has led to the establishment of a take-make-waste approach.

Nicole Aschoff’s article on how Whole Foods represents the failures of conscious capitalism challenges us to “take a hard look at models that claim to solve the ills of capitalism without challenging the in-build drives of our for-profit systems”[1]. Aschoff questions the capability of sustainability advancement to meaningfully address the unintended environmental and social consequences of our existing capitalist model.

This is a critically important area for investigation, discussion and debate. Meaningful discourse combined with a commitment to building a society where humans and nature thrive and where we build opportunities for broad participation in wealth creation may lead to a fundamental shift to our current approach, areas of work as well as allocation of human and financial resources.