It is not common to hear people talk of "language" and "waste", but when it happens, the discussion is usually around how we should rename to remove "waste" connotations.
"Tips" become "landfills", "incinerators" become "waste to energy" (or "energy from waste"), "rubbish bins" become "MGBs" (Mobile Garbage Bins). And, in the best of all, "waste" becomes a "resource", "waste processing plants" become "resource recovery facilities".
The logic here is Orwellian. Just as in
Nineteen Eighty-Four, where the Ministry responsible for war is the Ministry of Peace, we pretend that a new label on rubbish changes its being. There is some sort of alchemy going on here, a collapsing of labels to things. A belief that, if you call rubbish a resource then it actually becomes a resource. And people treat it as such.
They don't. Because it isn't a resource. At least not to them. If it was, they wouldn't be throwing it out. To state the obvious, a resource is something with value
to the holder. Rubbish is something with no value.
To the holder.
Perhaps we should forgive a bit of Orwell in our lives. Perhaps we can give a bit of a nod and chuckle, but tell ourselves that from the absurdity comes some sense. Calling waste a resource will lead to enough people treating it as a resource.
Perhaps some do. In fact, some certainly do. But for most, what doublespeak does is create a barrier of understanding between the communicator and the audience. It creates a new language, where people have to first work out what is intended by "MGB" (or indeed, MRB - Mobile Recycling Bin), and only then can they process the message.
Most don't get that far. MGB? Don't have one of them, not for me. Resource recovery? Not for me, I don't work in the mines. And the rejection isn't even that explicit.
Creating a new jargon around waste is just what waste does not need. Recycling has enough messages on enough levels. It does not need a new filter of misunderstanding.
How about listening to your customers, and using their language? They persist in calling your landfill a tip? Cool, call it "the tip", and then explain how a modern tip is vastly different to an old tip. They want to know what happens with their recyclables? Don't say they go through a Materials Recovery Facility - use their language. That might be "waste factory". Or "waste processing plant". Or something else. Use whatever your customers use when they describe it to their mates.
At the end of the day, language should not be used to create barriers to communication. It should enable communication. Keep the jargon for technical journals, if you must, but talk true when you talk to those using your services. They are your customers and they deserve better.
