When Did We Start Recycling?

Recycling as a practice has existed for hundreds of years. The first recorded example of what we know of as recycling was in Japan in 1031 with the recycling of old paper to make new paper. Recycling as a more personal concept has existed for thousands of years though. Family units in pre-industrialised societies have always looked to reuse and recycle as production was much harder prior to the industrial revolution and just throwing things away was not a viable option. Whether it was mending and passing on clothes or making new furniture out of old, recycling was happening all year round.

In terms of modern recycling methods one of the earliest examples is The Ritten House Mill just outside of Philadelphia PA where old cloth and linen rags were turned into paper as early as 1690. This process was revolutionised in 1801 at a mill in England where Matthias Koop managed to extract the ink from paper and make it serviceable for reuse. The venture didn’t last long but it had all the markings of modern recycling.

Throughout the 19th Century recycling was used in a multitude of ways. Whether it was The Salvation Army collecting and recycling unwanted items or Peddlers in America making money of the resale of discarded good, recycling continued to grow. In 1897 New York created the first materials recovery facility, a recycling centre to us. This facility allowed people to drop of their rubbish where it would be sorted, categorised and picked up for reuse where possible. They would take in and look for everything from common materials such as glasses, metals and papers as well as more unique things such as burlap bags and horsehair.

It’s really in the 20th Century though that the world got it’s recycling game together. With materials like aluminum coming into more common use and greater modernisation, the world finally had the means and opportunity to recycle in an exceptional fashion.

Through World War Two an enormous amount of materials were reused and recycled to help
with the war effort. After the war and up until now we’ve seen not only the availability of recycling services grow but also the knowledge of how important it is as well.
With an ever growing population using more and more resources I think we can all see how important it is to be as mindful of what we throw away.