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History of Waste & Recycling
3
Waste & Recycling
500 B.C.
500 B.C.
Athens, Greece
Athens organizes the first municipal dump program in the western world. Local laws dictate that waste must be disposed of at least one mile from the city walls.
And we think we have it rough today having to drag it out to the curb
1690
1690 Philadelphia, US
The recycled paper manufacturing process is introduced. The Rittenhouse Mill near Philadelphia will make paper from fiber derived from recycled cotton and linen rags. Much of this paper was used to produce Bibles and newspapers.
1031
1031 Japan
Japan begins the first ever recorded reuse of waste paper. All of the documents and paper are recycled and re-pulped into new paper then sold in local shops across the country. Recycling became part of paper production and consumption. Japanese culture generally treats recycled paper as being more precious than new and the recycled paper was often used in paintings and poetry.
1776
1776 America
As America declares its independence from the English, rebels turn to recycling to provide material to fight the War of Independence. Universal collection campaigns for tin, rubber, steel, paper and more. More than 400,000 volunteer in the effort and tens of thousands of tons of material are recycled in order to save money for the war efforts. This was a national campaign.
1865
1865 London, England
The Salvation Army is founded in London, England and begins collecting, sorting and recycling unwanted goods. The Household Salvage Brigades employ the unskilled poor to recover discarded materials. The organization and its program migrated to the United States in the 1890’s.
1897
1897 New York
New York City creates a materials recovery facility where trash is sorted at “picking yards” and separated into various grades of paper, metals, and carpet. Burlap bags, twine, rubber and even horse hair are also sorted for recycling and reuse.
1900
1900's
Recycling advocates and reuse programs embrace the phrase “Waste as Wealth” to describe the revenue to be earned from sorting and reselling items found in household trash
1904 Illinois
The first American aluminum can recycling plants open in Chicago and Cleveland
1904
1930's
Many people survive the Great Depression by peddling scraps of metal, rags and other items.
1930
1955
Ease and convenience become the two most desirable qualities in product marketing, inevitably leading to parks, forests and highways becoming littered with garbage
1955
1965
The Mobius Loop is introduced as the symbol for Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. In the form of a Mobius strip, the symbol was designed by Gary Anderson after a Chicago-based recycled-container company sponsored an art contest to raise environmental awareness
1965
1970
The first Earth Day brings national attention to the problem of increasing waste and the importance of recycling. Earth Day is supported by over 192 countries on April 22nd.
1970
1971
The first “Bottle Bill” is born: Oregon introduces a refundable deposit (a nickel) on beer and soda bottles as an incentive to recycle. Canadian Government established the Department of Environment, commonly referred to as Environment Canada
1971
1976
The Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is enacted to close open dumps, create standards for landfills, incinerators and the disposal of hazardous waste
1976
2000
The EPA confirms a link between global warming and waste, showing that reducing our garbage and recycling cuts down greenhouse gas emissions.
2000
2007
Five states pass laws requiring that unwanted electronics be recycled. San Francisco becomes the first U.S. city to prohibit the distribution of plastic bags by grocery stores
2007
2018
China enforced several import bans in 2018 that resulted in significant shifts in the recycling industry. January 1st, 2018: China bans imports of 24 categories of recyclable materials. March 1st, 2018: China announces the quality standard that scrap material imports must meet from now on, a 0.5% contamination standard for plastics and fibers. As of Dec 31st, 2018 – 16 more "solid waste" scrap materials were banned from importing.