Ann's geography blog: The History of Recycling

Recycling has been around for thousands of years. Originally, it was done mainly by households on a small scale basis as materials were scarce and expensive and so had to be re-used, instead of being thrown away. Once the Industrial Age began in the late eighteenth century, goods became produced and purchased very cheaply. This meant people were more inclined to throw away waste rather than try to reuse it. This "disposable goods" culture can be seen as the start of current environmental problems.

Recycling on a larger scale could be seen in the 1930's and 1940's during the World Wars. At this time, resources were limited and people were forced to reuse goods and become more resourceful and creative. Things like rubber, nylon and some metals were limited and conserved. While this recycling trend continued in some countries without many resources (e.g. Japan) after the war, most countries stopped recycling because of the post-war economic boom.

Nylon.

Picture from- http://kowboykrome.com/halters/nylon.jpg

Recycling as we know it today began in the late 1960's in America because Americans were using too much of the world's resources such as oil, water, trees and minerals. Its global arrival was announced by the "World Earth Day" in 1970. The recycling movement was not effective at the beginning causing Americans to introduce a new system where by people were charged for bottles. People then began collecting empty bottles and selling them or else reusing them. Recycling then spread to other countries and has grown on a yearly basis since then.

An Empty Bottle.