In the 1800s, recycling did not exist as we know it – no blue bins, sorting bins or trucks rumbling through aisles; yet people far outdid their machines by working together effectively to find ways to reuse materials that otherwise went to landfills. But people did more than recycle.
“People used to recycle more than we do now,” according to Susan Strasser’s Waste and Needs: A Social History of Waste. When your elbows were worn out on your shirt, simply unbuttoning its sleeves, turning them inside out, and you had an instant shirt! Or when your dress became outdated you might add new buttons or send it back for alteration; or transform its fabric into quilts or carpets or simply into rags!
Before municipal solid waste was available for disposal, things would accumulate in homes if people didn’t reuse what was in them,” according to Strasser. People who made things understood their true worth; as Strasser notes: If all your clothing or household materials came directly from you or your mother/uncle/street guy it provided an entirely different sense of valuation for goods materials.”
She noted that household manuals provide instructions on how to repair glass surfaces using garlic as glue, among other remedies.
Strasser said the closest 19th-century equivalent to modern recycling would have been the ragpicker; these individuals traveled door-to-door collecting old fabric for international trading in rags for paper production. Although railways used to collect door-to-door rags collection services for several centuries after this practice ended.
As garbage collection began in many cities in the late 19th century, workers quickly separated reusable from nonreusable waste for landfill disposal. Conveyor belt workers started sorting as early as 1905! Cities sold their reusable waste to industries while many people kept organic materials to feed animals at home.
But in the 1920s, source separation wasn’t yet underway; at that time there wasn’t much recycling happening outside of metal scrap yards.
“But there was only a brief period during which people didn’t recycle,” according to Strasser.
Recycling from World War II to the 1960s: From metal cans used during World War II to those recycled after 1960, recycling remains key in maintaining an economically healthy society.
In WWII, people recycled nylons, cans, cooking fats and even the metal from toothpaste tubes to support the war effort.
Martin Melosi, author of Fresh Kills: a story of consumption and rejection in New York explains that during this era recycling programs linked to environmental concerns first began appearing, when Rachel Carson championed ecology studies while Lyndon B Johnson adopted several environmental laws.
As the environmental movement gains steam nationwide, recycling has been seen by Melosi as an individual way to help save the earth. There was “an affinity” he felt toward helping preserve nature that resonates strongly among his grandchildren today, according to him.
At first, those engaged in environmentally responsible recycling transported everything directly to private recycling centers.
“This policy wasn’t feasible for the entirety of society; people driving cars to collect recyclable materials pollute even further by creating additional pollution,” Melosi asserts.
Full landfills enabled curbside recycling back in the 1970s.
At Santa Monica Recycling Center in California in 1992, a woman organizes plastic recycling into separate recycling bins.
After World War II, however, most individuals within a disposable society did not think too seriously about conserving resources or cutting consumption until landfills filled up substantially in the 1970s.
“Landfill disposal became the predominant form after World War II,” states Melosi. Recycling offers one effective means of curbing this growing reliance. By diverting waste away from landfill sites and into recycling programs instead, recycling can now play a more strategic role beyond simply protecting the environment. ”
Street-side recycling programs have helped address this convenience problem; their prevalence varying by city. Recycling rates increased steadily starting around 1960 at just over 6% of municipal solid waste being recycled; over time these numbers rose steadily over time until reaching approximately 10% by 1980; 16% in 1990; 29% in 2000 and over 35% today (this reduced waste going to landfill from 94% of what was generated to 52% of it resulting from 2017 onward).
Zero waste has emerged as an idea in recent decades, prompting people to produce less by considering disposables rather than recycling bins as sources. Many waste companies previously supportive of recycling have not fully embraced Zero Waste; Melosi notes this challenge of producing products with smaller environmental impacts is extremely challenging and requires significant cultural change for success.
“This task is very challenging to carry out,” states Mr. Pettigrew.
Yet in some instances, lessons of the 19th century have even become popular: Rag paper has become an attractive option for wedding invitations.
