Editing Recycling (section)

=== Origins ===
Reusing materials has been a common practice for most of human history with recorded advocates as far back as [[Plato]] in the fourth century BC.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Aspden |first=Peter |date=2022-12-09 |title=Recycling Beauty, Prada Foundation — what the Romans did for us and what we did to them |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/1c1251cf-5feb-430c-9062-37f6b91af5d4 |access-date=2023-05-18}}</ref> During periods when resources were scarce, archaeological studies of ancient waste dumps show less household waste (such as ash, broken tools, and pottery), implying that more waste was recycled in place of new material.<ref name="guide">{{Cite book |last = Black Dog Publishing |publisher = Black Dog Publishing |year = 2006 |location = London, UK |isbn = 978-1-904772-36-1 |title = Recycle : a source book |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/recycleessential0000unse }}</ref> However, [[archaeological artefact]]s made from recyclable material, such as glass or metal, may neither be the original object nor resemble it, with the consequence that a successful ancient recycling economy can become invisible when recycling is synonymous with re-melting rather than reuse.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/arcm.12756|title=Approaches to interrogate the erased histories of recycled archaeological objects|last1=Wood|first1=J.R.|journal=Archaeometry|year=2022|volume=64|pages=187–205|url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10142809/|access-date=13 July 2022|archive-date=20 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221020191958/https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10142809/|url-status=live|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[File:Old Rags Into New Cloth- Salvage in Britain, April 1942 D7447.jpg|thumb|Inside a British factory, a textile worker rakes newly-made '[[shoddy]]' which was then combined with new wool to make new cloth]]
In [[pre-industrial]] times, there is evidence of [[scrap]] bronze and other metals being collected in Europe and melted down for continuous reuse.<ref name="economisttruth" /> [[Paper recycling]] was first recorded in 1031 when Japanese shops sold repulped paper.<ref>{{Cite book |title = Handbook of Energy: Chronologies, Top Ten Lists, and Word Clouds |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ScL77rOCZn0C&q=1031+japan+paper+recycling |publisher = Elsevier |date = 15 November 2013 |isbn = 978-0-12-417019-3 |first1 = Cutler J. |last1 = Cleveland |first2 = Christopher G. |last2 = Morris |page = 461 |access-date = 19 November 2020 |archive-date = 20 February 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230220183214/https://books.google.com/books?id=ScL77rOCZn0C&q=1031+japan+paper+recycling |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title = Sustaining the earth: choosing consumer products that are safe for you, your family, and the earth |publisher = Hearst Books |date = 1 January 1994 |location = New York |isbn = 978-0-688-12335-2 |first = Debra |last = Dadd-Redalia |page = 103 |oclc = 29702410 }}</ref> In Britain dust and ash from wood and coal fires was collected by "[[Waste collector|dustmen]]" and [[downcycling|downcycled]] as a base material for brick making. These forms of recycling were driven by the economic advantage of obtaining recycled materials instead of virgin material, and the need for waste removal in ever-more-densely populated areas.<ref name="guide" /> In 1813, [[Benjamin Law (inventor)|Benjamin Law]] developed the process of turning rags into "[[shoddy]]" and "[[Glossary of textile manufacturing#M|mungo]]" wool in Batley, Yorkshire, which combined recycled fibers with virgin [[wool]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Know all about : reduce, reuse, recycle|last=Nongpluh, Yoofisaca Syngkon.|others=Noronha, Guy C.,, Energy and Resources Institute.|year=2013|isbn=978-1-4619-4003-6|location=New Delhi|oclc=858862026}}</ref> The [[West Yorkshire]] shoddy industry in towns such as [[Batley]] and [[Dewsbury]] lasted from the early 19th century to at least 1914.

Industrialization spurred demand for affordable materials. In addition to rags, ferrous [[scrap]] metals were coveted as they were cheaper to acquire than virgin ore. Railroads purchased and sold scrap metal in the 19th century, and the growing steel and automobile industries purchased scrap in the early 20th century. Many secondary goods were collected, processed and sold by peddlers who scoured dumps and city streets for discarded machinery, pots, pans, and other sources of metal. By [[World War I]], thousands of such peddlers roamed the streets of American cities, taking advantage of market forces to recycle post-consumer materials into industrial production.<ref name="cash">{{Cite book |last = Carl A. Zimring |publisher = Rutgers University Press |year = 2005 |location = New Brunswick, NJ |isbn = 978-0-8135-4694-0 |title = Cash for Your Trash: Scrap Recycling in America |url = https://archive.org/details/lccn_2005002576 |url-access = registration }}</ref>

Manufacturers of beverage bottles, including [[Schweppes]],<ref>{{cite web|title=sd_shire|url=http://www.britishsoftdrinks.com/PDF/history.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014013216/http://www.britishsoftdrinks.com/PDF/history.pdf|archive-date=14 October 2012|access-date=27 October 2012|df=dmy}}</ref> began offering refundable recycling deposits in Great Britain and Ireland around 1800. An official recycling system with [[Container deposit legislation|refundable deposits]] for bottles was established in Sweden in 1884, and for aluminum beverage cans in 1982; it led to recycling rates of 84–99%, depending on type (glass bottles can be refilled around 20 times).<ref>[https://www.zerowasteeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Rethinking-economic-incentives2.pdf Rethinking economic incentives for separate collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219203932/https://www.zerowasteeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Rethinking-economic-incentives2.pdf |date=19 December 2019 }}. Zero Waste Europe & Reloop Platform, 2017</ref>