Cash For Your Trash: Scrap Recycling in America

Introduction

I N T R O D U C T I O N 1 Paul Revere recycled. Readers may be surprised that one of the heroes of the War of Independence participated in an activity we associate with the late twentieth century . Revere did not call what he did “recycling”—that term first was used regularly by the petroleum industry in the 1920s—but he saved old metal objects for reuse, just as we save cans and bottles today.1 Revere did not recycle because he was interested in saving the environment; I do not know if he had any particular views on his surroundings , other than that they should not be under the authority of King George. Revere recycled because using old metals provided valuable economic returns. He made his living as a metalsmith, crafting primarily goods of silver but also copper, iron, and gold. From scrap metal he forged horseshoes sound enough for him to ride to Lexington . Reuse meant he did not have to purchase new supplies of metal when he wanted to fashion new horseshoes, or church steeples, or whatever his customers asked him to make. After the war, these customers included the new government, who purchased some of Revere’s copper for pennies minted during the early 1790s. Subsequently, Revere supplied metals for naval vessels and the dome of the new statehouse for the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Revere collected old metals from broken farm implements, cookware, and other sources near his yard in Boston, using them in the production of new goods. His Introduction 1 2 C A S H F O R Y O U R T R A S H activities were not unusual at the time; colonial blacksmiths regularly made use of old metal when fashioning new goods.2 Today, we see material reuse in a much different way. We recycle because we are concerned about the environmental consequences of our waste disposal. Public programs to collect and process postconsumer recyclables have burgeoned in the United States over the past three decades, ranging from municipal curbside collection programs to office collection programs to mandates by the federal government to collect and recycle its own glass, plastic, metal, and paper. Every week, millions of Americans place old cans, bottles, and papers at their curbs for pickup, some even go to recycling centers to drop off various materials. Programs exist for recycling a variety of goods, from automobile batteries to laser-printer toner cartridges. These programs are common now, for many Americans think recycling is a good, even moral behavior protecting the environment. Reusing items tempers our rampant consumption and reduces the amount of garbage we throw into landfills and incinerators. Americans recycle because they feel doing so is environmentally responsible. They see recycling postconsumer materials as a way of reducing the burdens of consumption by reducing the amount of waste disposed of in landfills. Recycling programs are considered a part of a sustainable strategy to manage solid wastes. When curbside recycling programs are successful, these materials join a large stream of postconsumer and postindustrial materials— including obsolete industrial machinery, junked automobiles, construction waste, material from demolished buildings, and other sources—first in scrap yards, then in industrial reuse. The activity of reclaiming materials is not new. Reuse of old materials in colonial mills, factories, shops, and homes was widespread. Although reuse practices have changed since then, the republic has never seen a time without substantial quantities of old materials being reused. Much of this material was reused in the home prior to the late nineteenth century; old clothing was frequently mended and reused as rags or material for quilts. Since colonial times, the urban poor and charity groups such as the Salvation Army collected materials from dumps and city streets for resale to merchants. The people who discarded these materials perceived them as waste, yet they had sufficient utility to someone that they were salvaged.3 If somehow Revere could travel from 1775 to 2005, he would be perplexed by all of the people taking bins of paper, metal, glass, and I N T R O D U C T I O N 3 materials he would not recognize (plastics) to the front curbs or alleys of their homes, where they would leave them. Eventually, a truck would come along and pick up the bins. The silversmith would see no evidence that the people in the truck had compensated the people in...