A personal theory I have about why there is so much waste in the world has to do with human psychology. People love convenience and ease, and the fewer barriers to entry you can provide for people make your product more profitable. For example, the packaging and preservatives in food allow it to last longer and generally provide more value, people are more likely to buy that as opposed to alternatives. This, of course, creates waste, due to the ease of access with the advent of plastic becoming normalized and widespread waste collection systems becoming normalized. Even just a few hundred years ago the vast expanse of human history reveals a different reality. More thoughtfully made and longer-lasting products were commonplace, as access to resources and ease of access to consumer products were much harder to come by and presented significant technological barriers. This ties into inequality though, as some of the ways we’ve progressed into this hyper-consumer economy have to do with taking advantage of populations that seem more ‘disposable’ than other populations in the quest to provide people with their goods. We can see this in assembly shops throughout the world, and even farming based on the crop.