Blue disposal bins, catchy three-word slogans, signs asking users to separate green glass from clear glass, ‘paper or cardboard only’ disposal receptacles - these are just a few of the visible signs of the modern recycling movement. Recycling has been a major issue since human beings first started forming organized societies. Renaissance armies would melt down old, worn out cannons to reclaim some copper instead of having to dig it out again.

The Great Depression made it difficult to get food, let alone new goods, so people buckled down and learned how to reuse. The US and Britain launched massive recycling and reclamation campaigns during World War II to maximize wartime production. People have always found ways to save time, effort, and money by finding inventive new uses for their personal goods.

What’s Old Is New Again

The modern story of recycling as an environmental movement truly begins in the late 1960s and early 1970s. For the first time, with conservation efforts and the consequences of worldwide pollution really being made public (facilitated by the explosion of television’s ability to reach a worldwide audience), people were becoming aware of the ability of major recycling campaigns to positively affect their lives. Spurred by events like the infamous Mobro 4000 barge, which sailed up and down the eastern coast of the Americas for nearly a year hauling a full load of garbage, people were moved to take widespread, systematic action.

Recycling can have a significant impact in many obvious, measurable ways. Every aluminum can melted down and reclaimed is one less can that has to be stored in a landfill. Landfills aren’t simply dumping holes that are filled once and ignored, but sophisticated facilities that require careful attention, maintenance, and energy to properly function. For example, inspectors are required to periodically ensure that the environmental seal around the underside of landfills doesn’t rupture, potentially spilling pollutants into the local environment through leakage. The less product that gets dumped into these landfills, the less a modern society has to invest in their upkeep.

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