How citizens can drive dematerialisation of economic growth
The central idea is to improve people's lives while reducing the physical resources and energy required to provide them.
Economic growth need not mean proportionately more mining, manufacturing, land use, construction, waste and carbon emissions. More of the value created by an economy could come from better health, longer-lasting products, repair, knowledge, shared infrastructure, accessible public services and reduced waste.
There is one main objectives:
- Absolute dematerialisation: total material consumption and environmental pressures actually fall, while wellbeing is maintained or improved.
This is a more demanding objective than relative dematerialisation (material per $ of GDP). Individual purchasing choices alone are unlikely to deliver it. The design of markets, public infrastructure, taxation and regulation matters greatly.
What citizens can actually do
Actions that change the incentives facing producers and government can have effects beyond individual purchasing choices.
1. Make repair and longevity economically normal
Repair appliances, keep electronics longer, buy refurbished equipment and support right-to-repair policies. Organise local repair cafés and tool libraries. The aim is to reduce demand for newly extracted materials, not simply to recycle more waste.
2. Campaign for infrastructure that reduces material demand
Better walking, cycling and public transport can reduce dependence on private cars, parking and road expansion. Compact neighbourhoods can make services accessible with less travel. This requires good planning and public investment, not merely asking individuals to change their behaviour.
3. Shift spending from possessions to services and shared resources
Libraries, community workshops, shared tools, leisure, education and cultural activities can deliver substantial value with less material throughput than frequent replacement of consumer goods. Services are not automatically low-impact, however: healthcare, tourism and digital infrastructure also use energy and materials.
4. Demand different measures of economic success
Ask councils, MPs and government to report material footprints, carbon emissions, healthy life expectancy, housing affordability and disposable income alongside GDP.
The UK already has a consumption-based material-footprint measure that counts raw materials used overseas to supply British consumption. This matters because importing manufactured goods can make domestic resource use look lower without reducing the UK's overall footprint.
5. Build local institutions that make low-material living easier
Support allotments, food-sharing schemes, reuse centres, community energy and cooperative services. These initiatives work best when they become convenient and affordable alternatives, rather than additional burdens placed on people with limited time or money.
The most important political demand
Citizens could press for a national dematerialisation target, with annual reporting and clear sectoral responsibilities.
It should measure the UK's consumption-based material footprint, including raw materials extracted abroad for goods consumed here, and track it alongside real household welfare.
There is a useful precedent for this measurement approach: Eurostat reports that the EU economy achieved absolute decoupling of domestic material consumption from GDP over 2000–2025. However, domestic material consumption alone cannot reveal whether material-intensive production has been displaced abroad.
A credible UK target would therefore need to measure both domestic material use and the wider footprint of imports. It should also track whether reductions are sustained, whether carbon emissions and biodiversity pressures fall, and whether people's quality of life improves.
The fundamental challenge
There is a rebound effect: efficiency makes a product or service cheaper, and people may use the savings to consume more elsewhere. Recycling and repair are helpful, but they cannot by themselves guarantee a decline in total material use.
That is why individual choices need to be reinforced by product standards, durable design, public procurement, planning, taxation and investment that reward lower resource use.
The objective is not austerity or making people poorer. It is to make economic welfare less dependent on the throughput of physical resources.
Citizens can advance that objective by changing how they consume, organising practical alternatives and, especially, demanding that public policy measures success in terms of wellbeing and absolute resource use—not GDP alone.
