Or stop buying certain things.  In America, at least, political decisions are not made with the interest of the average citizen in mind.  There is a strong corporate interest in getting you to buy stuff as often as possible and that heavily influences government policy.  That is not to say that reducing consumption would not have a significant impact on the prosperity of the average citizen.<p>I&#x27;m of the opinion that the effort should focus on making the re-use of materials profitable.  Charge people by weight for what they throw away and provide a financial incentive for re-use&#x2F;re-cycling of everything from food scraps to aluminum cans and you&#x27;ll find that your trash disappears from the curb long before the garbage truck comes.