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The MIT Press Essential Knowledge
Recycling
An overview of recycling as an activity and a process, following different materials through the waste stream.
Is there a point to recycling? Is recycling even good for the environment? In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Finn Arne J�rgensen answers (drumroll, please): it depends. From a technical point of view, recycling is a series of processes--collecting, sorting, processing, manufacturing. Recycling also has a cultural component; at its core, recycling is about transformation and value, turning material waste into something useful--plastic bags into patio furniture, plastic bottles into T-shirts. J�rgensen offers an accessible and engaging overview of recycling as an activity and as a process at the intersection of the material and the ideological.
J�rgensen follows a series of materials as they move back and forth between producer and consumer, continually transforming in form and value, in a never-ceasing journey toward becoming waste. He considers organic waste and cultural contamination; the history of recyclable writing surfaces from papyrus to newsprint; discarded clothing as it moves from the the Global North to the Global South; the shifting fate of glass bottles; the efficiency of aluminum recycling; the many types of plastic and the difficulties of informed consumer choice; e-waste and technological obsolescence; and industrial waste. Finally, re-asking the question posed by John Tierney in an infamous 1996 New York Times article, "is recycling garbage?" J�rgensen argues that recycling is necessary--as both symbolic action and physical activity that has a tangible effect on the real world.
Is there a point to recycling? Is recycling even good for the environment? In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Finn Arne J�rgensen answers (drumroll, please): it depends. From a technical point of view, recycling is a series of processes--collecting, sorting, processing, manufacturing. Recycling also has a cultural component; at its core, recycling is about transformation and value, turning material waste into something useful--plastic bags into patio furniture, plastic bottles into T-shirts. J�rgensen offers an accessible and engaging overview of recycling as an activity and as a process at the intersection of the material and the ideological.
J�rgensen follows a series of materials as they move back and forth between producer and consumer, continually transforming in form and value, in a never-ceasing journey toward becoming waste. He considers organic waste and cultural contamination; the history of recyclable writing surfaces from papyrus to newsprint; discarded clothing as it moves from the the Global North to the Global South; the shifting fate of glass bottles; the efficiency of aluminum recycling; the many types of plastic and the difficulties of informed consumer choice; e-waste and technological obsolescence; and industrial waste. Finally, re-asking the question posed by John Tierney in an infamous 1996 New York Times article, "is recycling garbage?" J�rgensen argues that recycling is necessary--as both symbolic action and physical activity that has a tangible effect on the real world.
208 pages, Paperback
Published November 12, 2019
8 people are currently reading
189 people want to read
About the author
Finn Arne Jørgensen
4 books1 followerFinn Arne Jørgensen is Professor of Environmental History at the University of Stavanger, Norway.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 30, 2021
Book 9 of 40. I’ve just finished reading ‘Recycling’ by Finn Arne Jørgensen.
This is a book that talks about the considerations of recycling from different standpoints; economics, culture, process and material. It doesn’t focus on facts, figures or graphs but the historical evolution of the changes that lead us to our material consumption and recycling today.
Historically, most of what we did was sustainable in one way or another, the humble ‘glass bottle’ is an icon for this. They were thick and distinguished, owned by the bottler and incentivised for return - often stamped with the company’s logo, following traditions of old English pubs from the 17th century. Consumers would return them to collect the deposit fee and they would be washed, cleaned and reused. The challenge of such heavy bottles was the high transportation costs so an alternative was needed, thinner bottles that were cheaper to produce and could be thrown away or Plastic that were disposable and cheaper again.
It is the pursuit of profit that shifts us towards the ‘throwaway society’. It is the low demand for recycled materials that results in less than 10% of materials being recycled, particular PET Plastics.
The good news is, consumers are now more conscious and demand sustainable materials to be used in product development. This upstream pressure generates a higher market value for recycled materials which causes more firms to participate and so the improvement will begin.
This is a book that talks about the considerations of recycling from different standpoints; economics, culture, process and material. It doesn’t focus on facts, figures or graphs but the historical evolution of the changes that lead us to our material consumption and recycling today.
Historically, most of what we did was sustainable in one way or another, the humble ‘glass bottle’ is an icon for this. They were thick and distinguished, owned by the bottler and incentivised for return - often stamped with the company’s logo, following traditions of old English pubs from the 17th century. Consumers would return them to collect the deposit fee and they would be washed, cleaned and reused. The challenge of such heavy bottles was the high transportation costs so an alternative was needed, thinner bottles that were cheaper to produce and could be thrown away or Plastic that were disposable and cheaper again.
It is the pursuit of profit that shifts us towards the ‘throwaway society’. It is the low demand for recycled materials that results in less than 10% of materials being recycled, particular PET Plastics.
The good news is, consumers are now more conscious and demand sustainable materials to be used in product development. This upstream pressure generates a higher market value for recycled materials which causes more firms to participate and so the improvement will begin.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2022
I picked this up because I got a bidet for Xmas with the goal of being less wasteful, and thus, I was in need of a new sustainability goal (no cap.) I have been suspecting that the American recycling system was B.S. for a while now, and this book confirmed that suspicion. I thought it was a nice bite size read to get me into the topic, a good "primer" as someone else described it. I don't think any reader should go into this topic expecting easy, concrete answers. There are none, and this book cements that, so leave expectations of anxieties being alleviated at the door. The most important takeaways are to be suspicious about the systems we take for granted, and to be more conscious of the materials we consume every day. Waste, even when seemingly recyclable, is still waste.
I am a bit baffled by some reviewers who say they were disapointed by the lack of depth this text included. From what I understand, the "MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series" is supposed to be short and sweet. Y'all could see it it was only 131 pages when you bought it, and one could predict the inclusion of citations as part of that page count. I do agree that the sources were a bit short and qualitative in what Jorgensen chose to include, but I have a suspicion that if you read their work individual, more specific data would be included. Overall, Recycling was the simple read I was hoping for, and gave me more detailed books to read next.
I am a bit baffled by some reviewers who say they were disapointed by the lack of depth this text included. From what I understand, the "MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series" is supposed to be short and sweet. Y'all could see it it was only 131 pages when you bought it, and one could predict the inclusion of citations as part of that page count. I do agree that the sources were a bit short and qualitative in what Jorgensen chose to include, but I have a suspicion that if you read their work individual, more specific data would be included. Overall, Recycling was the simple read I was hoping for, and gave me more detailed books to read next.
October 19, 2022
Definitely asks more questions than it answers. Good questions tho, and is a pretty well-researched look at the whole subject globally.
January 16, 2023
Recycling is a topic I have long wanted to know more about. Does curbside recycling really get recycled and reused? What is the bigger picture of recycling? How can we make recycling effective such that we waste less and use our resources to the maximum of their potential?
This was an ideal book to begin with. The author, who is from Scandinavia, gives the big big picture. He breaks it down by type of recycling: glass, aluminum, ewaste, plastic, cloth, etc. He describes the history of each material's recycling and where we are now, both in the U.S. and globally. And he shows how incredibly complicated this topic is, from consideration of what to include in the lifecycle of a material, considering the initial energy needed to produce and transport a product to the the cost and viability of recycling that product, and where recycling goes - often to countries like China and India.
This is very much the beginning of my study. I have a million questions remaining, but I feel as though I've gotten a good grounding for the start of my understanding about this complicated topic.
This was an ideal book to begin with. The author, who is from Scandinavia, gives the big big picture. He breaks it down by type of recycling: glass, aluminum, ewaste, plastic, cloth, etc. He describes the history of each material's recycling and where we are now, both in the U.S. and globally. And he shows how incredibly complicated this topic is, from consideration of what to include in the lifecycle of a material, considering the initial energy needed to produce and transport a product to the the cost and viability of recycling that product, and where recycling goes - often to countries like China and India.
This is very much the beginning of my study. I have a million questions remaining, but I feel as though I've gotten a good grounding for the start of my understanding about this complicated topic.
March 29, 2021
This book was informative, but it didn't really give many examples that can actually be traced. Instead of adding specific companies, industries, or projects they baked in a bunch of opinions from what felt like 100 people into the book making the read feel more like a glorification of the author's friends rather than a basis of knowledge on the world of recycling. It took me so long to read the book because it wasn't engaging, with a topic as broad as recycling I expected at least a paragraph or two on self reflection but that was not the case.
November 6, 2019
Informative read. Wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I picked it up, although that's probably not the books fault...
I was hoping for something more focused on the processes, economics and politics of recycling. While the book did cover these issues, and there were a few nuggets of information here and there, I found it a bit too focused on fairly abstract cultural issues which were largely lost on me.
I was pleased to learn where the word "shoddy" comes from.
I was hoping for something more focused on the processes, economics and politics of recycling. While the book did cover these issues, and there were a few nuggets of information here and there, I found it a bit too focused on fairly abstract cultural issues which were largely lost on me.
I was pleased to learn where the word "shoddy" comes from.
October 6, 2020
Consumerism can be seen at a normal distribution. Were we take earths elements and drive them up the hill or what's knows as Upstream to derive value, and then downstream to dismantle out of sight and thus out of mind. Recycling is just making that distribution economical. I don't see where we put earth first.
Earth is not unique for the universe. But its unique for us based on our current understanding as we are unique to it. Recycling should be about keeping idea at the core.
Earth is not unique for the universe. But its unique for us based on our current understanding as we are unique to it. Recycling should be about keeping idea at the core.
October 8, 2024
Content Warnings: None
Jorgensen's Recycling is an academic primer covering the history of recycling and how it's various forms fit into the larger systems that handle and produce waste.
You will find very little that is actionable at the personal level here. One insight remains: by handling our waste, we can bring waste and the systems that produce it into our conscious awareness.
Jorgensen's Recycling is an academic primer covering the history of recycling and how it's various forms fit into the larger systems that handle and produce waste.
You will find very little that is actionable at the personal level here. One insight remains: by handling our waste, we can bring waste and the systems that produce it into our conscious awareness.
November 16, 2020
This book is a decent overview of recycling, but very qualitative and not exactly sure what I expected. This is the first book I've read from this MIT but I was expecting more numbers and clearer conclusions, oriented towards an audience comfortable with numbers and complexity. Life Cycle Analysis shows up only in the second half of the book.
This is written by a historian and it shows in the text. There is a lot of good information on the perspective of the consumer, how we think about recycling and groups that influence consumer behavior. If you are interested in a broad overview of recycling for a general audience, I can recommend this book.
This is written by a historian and it shows in the text. There is a lot of good information on the perspective of the consumer, how we think about recycling and groups that influence consumer behavior. If you are interested in a broad overview of recycling for a general audience, I can recommend this book.
September 11, 2022
fucking terrible. if the book is a work of philosophy, it is vapid and repetitive and disorganized - arriving at no thesis other than “recycling is good and bad” (??). if it is a work of journalism, it doesn’t tell you anything about how the recycling process actually works.
September 8, 2020
A good primer on the state of recycling, the psychology and social challenges of it as well. I am keen to look up other books in this MIT series. Very well done.
February 2, 2021
Some interesting points are discussed and also remarcabile historical points are mentioned. Is recycling garbage?
January 15, 2025
Brief, informative, entry-level. The book is exactly what it's advertised as.
March 1, 2025
Everything you could hope for on the topic - all the thoughts I had on the insane and Wicked Problem of individualized, downstream, consumer-side recycling laid out neatly and with brevity!
November 24, 2025
A concise primer on the history and process of recycling. Makes you think more about what you put in the blue bin.
July 6, 2023
One of the most thought provoking books in my personal journey! So much food for thought about society, consumption, wastestreams, etc. If you want every question answered, this probably isn't the book, but if you want to know how to ask the meaningful questions, I think that it's a fantastic read and I can't recommend it enough. Even though I was already the type of person to pick up a book on recycling on a whim haha, I still feel like this book seriously changed my whole worldview. I'm really glad I came across it and would like to read more of this collection. (The volume is also such a pleasant size, so nice to hold and easy to get through!)
November 30, 2019
very interesting read
January 12, 2020
Everyone should read this book. Incredible historical overview of a complex problem with illustrative examples that give you plenty to think about.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews