A Wasteful History: The Nondisposable Truth About Recycling
For the month of November, The Beautiful Blog will feature a two-part series: A Wasteful History. This series will examine both the history of waste collection and the history of recycling.
Photo from Inspir’Action
November 15th is America Recycles Day, a day each year to remind everyone how important recycling is for us and for our planet. Hosted by Keep America Beautiful, there are many ways to be involved – taking the #BeRecycled pledge, brushing up on what can and can’t be recycled in Knoxville, and hosting your own litter cleanup. This year, Keep Knoxville Beautiful is celebrating America Recycles Day by looking at the history of recycling and how it has evolved from a practical practice to an environmental necessity.
As discussed in last week’s blog about the history of waste collection, past societies did not create as much waste as we do now, and one reason for that was because recycling was a natural part of their production process. When goods were scarcer or homemade, they were designed to be used as many times as possible, and once they no longer served their original purpose, a new purpose was found. For example, a shirt that was made at home would be patched and stitched no matter how many times it was worn or dirtied. When it could no longer be worn as a shirt, it would become a rag to clean around the house. Repairing and repurposing were integral to the recycling process, and modern societies have been returning to such practices as the amount of disposable waste floods our landfills and oceans.
Take a look at this week’s timeline to see how past societies have recycled and how it has once again become an essential part of everyday life for many people.
Recycling Timeline
Photo from Japan Times
2000 BCE, China – Simple methods of composting and recycling are developed and utilized, particularly for bronze to be used later.
62, Pompeii – Pompeiians pile garbage at the city’s walls and sort it for reuse in new projects.
800s, Japan – Japanese people begin recycling paper as part of the production process.
1690, Philadelphia – The Rittenhouse Mill opens and begins recycling linen and cotton rags to make paper.
1776, United States – During the American Revolutionary War, colonists pull down a statue of King George III, melt it, and use the metal to create 42,088 bullets.
1850s, England – Rag-and-bone men scavenge unwanted rags, bones, metal, and other household items that they sell to merchants to be reused or repurposed.
1904, United States – The first aluminum recycling plants open in Chicago and Cleveland.
1930s, United States – The phrase “use it up, wear it out, make do or do without” becomes popular during the extreme shortages brought on by the Great Depression.
Photo from Northwestern University
1941, United States - World War II brings massive, universal collection campaigns for tin, rubber, steel, and paper.
1950s, United States – Single-use disposable items, such as plastics, are introduced, supposedly negating a need to reuse and recycle in daily life.
1960s, United States - The first curbside collections of yard waste, metals, and paper start popping up around the county. Separate waste streams collected at the curb become common place.
1970, California – The recycling symbol is designed by a college student named Gary Anderson as part of an Earth Day competition.
2018, China – China bans the import of recyclable materials from other countries, including the United States.
Today, San Francisco – The city diverts 80% of its waste from landfills through recycling and composting programs, the most of any US city.
Today, Knoxville - Over 50% of the City of Knoxville households participate in curbside recycling.