| We often think of recycling as a practice rooted in the environmental movement of the late twentieth century, yet recycling is an economic activity with a history that predates modern environmentalism. I approach this history by analyzing the social, economic, and cultural forces that shaped the United States' scrap recycling businesses between 1800 and 1980. Over the course of the nineteenth century, technological changes in industrial production allowed the use of increasing amounts of scrap metal, rags and other secondary materials. In the late nineteenth century, demand from mills and railroads transformed scavenging from an act of individual subsistence to a profit-making venture. The trade attracted immigrants who wished to own their own businesses (particularly Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe) with opportunities stemming from its low investment costs and little competition from established firms. These opportunities grew as the United States became a consumptive society, disposing reusable materials. Use of steel in buildings, automobiles, appliances and industrial machinery made ferrous scrap the nation's most traded scrap material after World War I. By 1920, each of the nation's largest cities boasted hundreds of scrap firms, many of which operated in residential neighborhoods. Scrap dealers defended themselves from customers' and neighbors' allegations of criminal, unsanitary and unethical practices by developing trade associations, publications, codes of ethics and rhetoric claiming they were “vital agents of conservation” who protected national interests by providing manufacturers with affordable resources. During and after World War II (a time when material shortages brought public attention to scrap collecting), market forces transformed the industry from one comprised of immigrant-founded, family-owned firms to one dominated by corporations. Small firms faced rising costs associated with processing technologies, transportation, labor and federal regulations; many opted to sell to corporations. In the late twentieth century, firms adapted to environmental concerns, identifying themselves as “the original recyclers” even as federal regulators raised concerns about hazardous waste. This dissertation uses a variety of business, demographic, and cultural sources to engage debates in environmental, business, and immigrant history as well as industrial ecology. |
