She returned with a brand new seasonal Christmas cup complete with its post-consumer waste collar and plastic top.

FORBES: The Reusable Cup Experiment

Cradle-to-cradle is a call to the consumer to eliminate waste with smart consumer choices.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Then there is consumer e-waste - people here love gadgets, and love to change them regularly.

BBC: Technology

The guidance was produced in consultation with food manufacturers, supermarkets, trade associations, consumer groups and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

BBC: Scrap food sell-by dates, government urges manufacturers

Consumer-electronics devices can waste as much as 25% of their normal power when ostensibly off.

ECONOMIST: The much-talked-of smart grid prepares to enter the home

Sir Malcolm urged ministers to try to change the UK population's behaviour, saying there was "considerable scope for the government to launch a national consumer campaign to reduce domestic food waste" and for it to "set national targets to curb food waste within the UK food production and retail sectors, with clear sanctions for companies that fail to meet these targets".

BBC: MPs urge UK to eat less meat to help global food supplies

Cash equivalents have become increasingly popular, but gift cards too involve waste: In one recent year, Consumer Reports said 27 percent of these went unredeemed.

FORBES: Let's Have Ourselves A Very "Donnie Brasco" Christmas

This eliminated waste, dramatically reduced the variation in prices along the coast, brought down consumer prices by 4% and increased fishermen's profits by 8%.

ECONOMIST: How a luxury item became a tool of global development