War on waste?: The politics of waste and recycling in post-war Britain, 1950-1975

Capitalism, Nature, Socialism

Volumn 20, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 53-72

  Cooper, Timothy ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DOMESTIC WASTE; POST-WAR; RECYCLING; SANITATION; WASTE MANAGEMENT;

UNITED KINGDOM;

EID: 79956175274     PISSN: 10455752     EISSN: 15483290     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10455750903441615     Document Type: Article

References (119)

1. Susan Strasser, Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash (New York: Owl Books, 1999);
2. John Scanlan, On Garbage (London: Reaktion, 2005);
3. William Cohen and Ryan Johnson, Filth: Dirt, Disgust and Modern Life (Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 2005);
4. Richard Girling, Rubbish: Dirt on Our Hands and Crisis Ahead (London: Random House, 2005);
5. Heather Rogers, Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage (London; The New Press, 2005).
6. Zsuzsa Gille, From the Cult of Waste to the Trash Heap of History: The Politics of Waste in Socialist and Post-socialist Hungary (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2007).
7. Nicky Gregson, Alan Metcalfe and Louise Crewe, "Identity, Mobility and the Throwaway Society," Environment and Planning D, Society and Space, 25, 2007, pp. 682-700;
8. Martin O'Brien, A Crisis of Waste: Understanding the Rubbish Society (London: Routledge, 2008).
9. Martin Melosi, "Down in the Dumps: Is there a Garbage Crisis in America?," in M. Melosi, Effluent America: Cities, Industry, Energy and the Environment (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001), pp. 68-91.
10. For other skeptical views on the waste crisis, see B. Lomborg, The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 206-209;
11. Judd Alexander, In Defense of Garbage (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993), pp. 710.
12. Bill Luckin, "Pollution in the City," in M.J. Daunton (ed.), The Cambridge Urban History of Britain, Vol 3: 1840-1950 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 220-221.
13. For more on the transformation of refuse disposal since 1875, see Andrea Tanner, "Dust-O! Rubbish in Victorian London, 1860-1900," London Journal, 31, 2, 2006, pp. 157-178;
14. John Clark, "'The Incineration of Refuse is Beautiful': Torquay and the Introduction of Municipal Refuse Destructors," Urban History, 34, 2, 2007, pp. 255-277. (Pubitemid 47022833)
15. Chris Otter, "Making Liberalism Durable: Vision and Civility in the Late-Victorian City," Journal of Social History, 27, 1, 2002, pp. 1-15;
16. C. Otter, "Cleansing and Clarifying: Technology and Perception in 19th Century London," Journal of British Studies, 43, 1, 2004, pp. 40-64.
17. Peter Scott, "Did Owner-occupation Lead to Smaller Families for Interwar Working-class Households?," Economic History Review, 61, 1, 2008, pp. 99-124;
18. David Matless, Landscape and Englishness (London: Reaktion, 1999), pp. 67-70;
19. Timothy Cooper, "The Litter Nuisance in 20th Century Britain," in J.F.M. Clark and J. Scanlan (eds.), The World Turned Inside Out: Waste in History and Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, forthcoming).
20. Timothy Cooper, "Challenging the 'Refuse Revolution': War, Waste and the Rediscovery of Recycling, 1900-50," Historical Research, 81, 214, 2008, pp. 710-731.
21. Mark Riley, "From Salvage to Recycling-New Agendas or Same Old Rubbish?," Area, 40, 1, 2008, pp. 1-11.
22. Frank Flintoff, "Refuse, Scrap and Litter," Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, August 1968, pp. 750-770.
23. W. Price, "House Refuse: Improved Methods of Collection and Disposal," Journal of the Royal Sanitary Institute, 3, 1948, p. 171.
24. Frank Flintoff, "Refuse: The Volume Explosion," Public Cleansing, July, 1969, p. 309.
25. William Darling, "Future Possibilities in Public Cleansing," Public Cleansing and Salvage, August, 1954, p. 393.
26. J. Sumner, "Technical Developments in Refuse Collection and Disposal," Chartered Municipal Engineer, 91, March, 1964, p. 95;
27. Anon., "Smokeless Zones Change the Nature of House Refuse," Municipal Journal, May 11, 1956;
28. see also P. Thorsheim, Inventing Pollution: Coal, Smoke and Culture in Britain Since 1800 (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2006).
29. The "Smoke Abatement Act" here refers to the Clean Air Act of 1956. C. Peacock, "Public Cleansing is Everybody's Business," Public Cleansing and Salvage, 48, 1958, p. 213.
30. See "Survey of Food in Britain," The Times, supplement, January 21, 1957, p. x. Packaging was presented as a means of revitalizing the waning sale of fresh foods: "potatoes were undoubtedly one of the most unattractive articles sold in the greengrocers store; but, offered in unit packs, well cleaned and graded, and packaged in printed transparent film bags, they are now attractive and have sales appeal." "Supplement on Britain's Food," The Times, supplement, March 9, 1959, p. vii.
31. W.G. McClelland, "Economics of the Supermarket," Economic Journal, 72, 285, 1962, pp. 154-170;
32. G. Shaw, L. Curth, and A. Alexander, "Selling Self-Service and the Supermarket: The Americanization of Food Retailing in Britain, 1945-60," Business History, 46, 4, 2004, pp. 568-582. (Pubitemid 39259834)
33. "Survey of Food," op. cit., p. xix.
34. Anon., "Packaging Materials Output Continues to Grow," The Times, January 24, 1964, p. 19e.
35. Norman Riley, "Will Rubbish Run Out of Room?," Daily Telegraph, April 20, 1971, p. 14.
36. Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Austerity in Britain: Rationing, Controls and Consumption, 1939-1955 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 255;
37. "Consensus and Consumptions: Rationing, Austerity and Controls after the War," in H. Jones and M. Kandiah (eds.), The Myth of Consensus: New Views on British History, 1945-64 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996), pp. 79-96;
38. "Rationing, Austerity and the Conservative Party Recovery after 1945," Historical Journal, 37, 1, 1994, p. 180.
39. Zweiniger-Bargielowska, op. cit., pp. 263-264.
40. Catherine Ellis, "Total Abstinence and a Good Filing System? Anthony Crosland and the Affluent Society," in L. Black and H. Pemberton (eds.), An Affluent Society: Britain's Post-War Golden Age Revisited (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), pp. 69-84;
41. Jim Tomlinson, "'Inventing 'Decline': The Falling Behind of the British Economy in the Post-war Years," Economic History Review, 49, 4, November 1996, pp. 731-757. (Pubitemid 126598347)
42. M.J.C. Kennett, "The Disposal of Household Refuse," Town and Country Planning, 1967, p. 158;
43. A. Mann, "War-time Cleansing Problems," Public Cleansing and Salvage, May 1943, pp. 315-331;
44. J. Forton, "Future of the Public Cleansing Service," Public Cleansing and Salvage, June 1943, pp. 355-359;
45. G.C. McArthur, "Refuse Disposal in the Light of Present Experience," Public Cleansing and Salvage, September 1945, pp. 44-50;
46. 'A.L.T.', "What is Waste?," Public Cleansing and Salvage, July 1945, pp. 462-463.
47. Frank Flintoff, op. cit., p. 756.
48. Jeremy Black, Britain Since the Seventies: Politics and Society in the Consumer Age (London: Reaktion, 2004).
49. V.M.E. Birrell, "Expensive Packaging," The Times, October 18, 1957, p. 11g;
50. A.Y. Swainston, "Expensive Packaging," The Times, October 22, 1957, p. 11g;
51. R. Lonsdale-Hands, "Expensive Packaging," The Times, October 23, 1957, p. 11g;
52. Anon, "The Positive Joys of Frugality," The Times, April 7, 1966, p. 14g.
53. In 1957 Wylie observed that: "[w]ith rising living standards the value of refuse also rises and the natural resources of the world cannot keep pace indefinitely with destruction on such a scale." J.C. Wylie, "The Disposal and Utilization of Refuse," Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 8, December 1957, p. 413.
54. Martin Melosi, Coping with Abundance: Energy and Environment in Industrial America (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1985), p. 295.
55. Mauricio Schoijet, "Limits to Growth and the Rise of Catastrophism," Environmental History, 4, 1999, pp. 515-530; (Pubitemid 30264132)
56. Fiona Venn, The Oil Crisis (London: Pearson, 2002).
57. Björn-Ola Linnér, The Return of Malthus: Environmentalism and Post-war Population-Resource Crises (Isle of Harris: White Horse Press, 2003), pp. 93-116.
58. Stephen Cotgrove and Andrew Duff, "Environmentalism, Values and Social Change," British Journal of Sociology, 32, 1, March 1981, p. 93.
59. Jeremy Bugler, "Shh!-They're Returning the Non-Returnable," Observer, April 4, 1971, p. 8;
60. Robert Lamb, Promising the Earth (London: Routledge, 1996), p. 39.
61. Jeremy Bugler, "Schwepped into Action," Observer, December 5, 1971, p. 14.
62. See Peter Hildrew, "Down to Earth," Guardian, August 6, 1975, p. 11;
63. Oliver Thorold, "The Law or Conservation of Energy," Your Environment, 3, 2, 1972, pp. 47-50.
64. W. Patterson and G. Searle, "Packaging in Britain: A Policy for Containment; A Report by Friends of the Earth, Ltd.," Friends of the Earth, London, 1972, p. 55.
65. L. Reid, "Our Earth," Contemporary Review, 221, 1972, p. 99.
66. P.M. Jackson, "Returnable Bottles," The Times, May 27, 1971, p. 17e.
67. Christine Thomas, Material Gains: Reclamation, Recycling, and Reuse (London: Friends of the Earth, 1975), p. 84.
68. Samuel Hays, A History of Environmental Politics Since 1945 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press 2000), p. 204.
69. Robert Gottlieb, Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement (Washington: Island Press, [1994], 2005), p. 138.
70. Jonathan Holliman, Consumer's Guide to the Protection of the Environment (London: Ballantine Books, 1971), pp. 153-175.
71. Garrett De Bell, "Recycling," in J. Barr (ed.), The Environmental Handbook (London: Friends of the Earth, 1970), p. 217.
72. Friends of the Earth, Waste Not, op. cit., p. 8.
73. Neil Carter, "Party Politicization of the Environment in Britain," Party Politics, 12, 6, 2006, pp. 747-767. (Pubitemid 44536196)
74. Stephen Brooke, "Revisionists and Fundamentalists: The Labour Party and Economic Policy During the Second World War," Historical Journal, 32, 1, 1989, pp. 157-175.
75. Sean Glynn and Alan Booth, Modern Britain: An Economic and Social History (London: Routledge, 1996), pp. 192-196.
76. Jim Tomlinson, "'Inventing 'Decline': The Falling Behind of the British Economy in the Postwar Years," Economic. History Review, 49, 4, 1996, p. 752.
77. Lawrence Black, The Political Culture of the Left in Affluent Britain, 1951-64: Old Labour, New Britain? (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002).
78. Richard H.S. Crossman, Labour in the Affluent Society (London: Fabian Society, 1960).
79. Ezra Mishan, "Economic Priority: Growth or Welfare?," Political Quarterly, 40, 1, 1969, p. 83;
80. John Davis, "'Simple Solutions to Complex Problems': The Greater London Council and the Greater London Development Plan, 1965-1973," in J. Harris (ed.), Civil Society in British History: Ideas, Identities, Institutions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. 249-274.
81. P.N. Edmunds, "Growth or Survival," Contemporary Review, 220, 1972, p. 184.
82. Ezra Mishan, "The No-Growth Society: Postscript to an Epilogue," Contemporary Review, 227, 1975, p. 169.
83. Various authors, "Ecology and Socialism: the Argument Grows," Tribune, March 3, 1972, p. 8.
84. Peter Jackson, "This Over-populated, Polluted Planet," Tribune, January 21, 1972, p. 10.
85. Michael Barrett Brown, "Quality of Life versus Wealth," Tribune, February 4, 1972, p. 9.
86. "Report of the Seventy-first Annual Conference of the Labour Party," London, 1972, pp. 328-337.
87. T. Forrester, "Anatomy of a Local Labour Party," New Statesman, September 28, 1973, p. 416.
88. Steven Fielding, "Activists Against 'Affluence': Labour Party Culture During the 'Golden Age,' Circa 1950-1970," Journal of British Studies, 40, 2, 2001, pp. 241-267.
89. Steven Fielding and Duncan Tanner, "The 'Rise of the Left' Revisited: Labour Party Culture in Post-war Manchester and Salford," Labour History Review, 71, 3, 2006, pp. 211-233.
90. C. Harvie, "Letters," Tribune, January 28, 1972, p. 8.
91. Louise Cobill, "Time to Ration Our Resources," Labour Weekly, September 20, 1974, p. 12.
92. "Control of the Environment," Tribune, February 25, 1972.
93. "The Protection of the Environment: The Fight Against Pollution," Cmnd 4373, HMSO: London, 1969-70.
94. Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, "First Report," Cmnd 4585, HMSO: London, 1971, p. 14.
95. Derek Osborn, "Some Reflections on U.K. Environment Policy, 1970-1995," Journal of Environmental Law, 9, 1, 1997, p. 4.
96. Jeremy Bray, "Tools for the Seventies," Political Quarterly, 41, 2, 1970, p. 155.
97. Jeremy Bray, "The Politics of the Environment," Fabian Tracts, 412, 1972.
98. Bryn Jones, Labour Weekly, August 30, 1974, p. 19.
99. Anthony Crosland, Labour Weekly, September 6, 1974a, p. 12.
100. Anthony Crosland, "A Social Democratic Britain," Fabian Tracts, 404, 1971.
101. Anthony Crosland, Socialism Now (London: Jonathon Cape, 1974b), p. 152.
102. Anon, "£500M Bonus in the Dustbin," Guardian, September 12, 1974, p. 24.
103. Crosland, 1974b, op. cit., p. 154.
104. 84"Labour Party Election Manifesto," February 1974, online at: http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/man/lab74feb.html.
105. "War on Waste: A Policy for Reclamation," Cmnd 5727, HMSO, London, 1974, p. 1.
106. Brian Clapp, An Environmental History of Britain (London: Longmans, 1994), pp. 189-216;
107. see also Carl Zimring, Cash for Your Trash: Scrap Recycling in America (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2005).
108. Hays, op. cit., p. 204;
109. Martin Melosi, Garbage in the Cities: Refuse, Reform and the Environment, 1880-1980 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1981), p. 223.
110. "War on Waste," op. cit., p. 5.
111. Alan Coddington, "Pessimism Over Resources," Guardian, September 14, 1971, p. 13.
112. H.F. Wallis, The New Battle of Britain: A Conservation Handbook and Directory (London: Charles Knight, 1972), pp. 59-65.
113. Michael Meacher, "The £600 Millions of Waste Money," Guardian, September 12, 1974, p. 13.
114. "War on Waste," op. cit., p. 26.
115. E. Townsend, "Opening Salvo in the War on Waste," The Times, September 12, 1974, p. 25.
116. Department of the Environment, "Working Group on Recycling and Re-use of Materials Research Subgroup," National Archives, WD/982/27, 1976, p. 3.
117. Diane Fisher, "The Waste Age," Observer, December 12, 1976, p. 13.
118. Rosemary Burton, "Making Dust Our Paper," The Vole, 4, 3, 1981, p. 5.
119. David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990), pp. 15-19.