Forty Years: Then And

decade meant that the lower en- looping back to where they once ergy costs of recycling were attrac- were as far as “waste” is concerned. tive to producers. They still weren’t Manure from farm animals has interested in your tin cans though. long been used to fertilise soil and the contents of London’s cesspits Scoot forward a few years to 2013 were taken from the city and used and how do things look? Recycling for the same purpose on farms for is in full flow in most of Canada and centuries. Compost piles are known many other countries. The num- to have been around in the Roman ber of commodities that can be re- Empire. Paper recycling goes back a cycled has increased dramatically. long way and likely started soon af- Ides of March 2013 In particular, social attitudes to ter papermaking began. Milk deliv- recycling have become more posi- eries in reusable glass bottles have tive. Blue box recycling pick-ups been running in Britain for over a have sprouted in many areas and century. Reusing and recycling of Forty Years: Then it is common for people to have resources has a very long history. recyclables picked up or take them What may be regarded as waste and Now to a recycling centre. Things that by someone can be useful to other would have been laughed at back people. An empty pop bottle might It’s 40 years since the Wombles , a when Orinoco and the rest of the seem useless but with a bit of work group of small furry recyclers liv- gang first appeared. Recycling mat- it can be turned into something ing on Wimbledon Common in ters have definitely improved since useful either by recycling or reusing. southwest London, jumped from 1973. As to the next 40 years...here’s The Earth has finite resources books to BBC TV. The Wombles hoping for a Zero Waste Yukon. and by recycling and compost- were originally created in 1968 ing we can help to form those but their TV appearances mir- resources into an endless loop. rored and supported the grow- ing interest in ecology in the 70s. With that in mind, how have things People A resource is defined as a “source Behind changed since Great Uncle Bulgaria of supply, support, or aid, espe- first appeared on Britain’s screens? cially one that can be readily drawn Raven upon when needed”. Plastics, paper In 1973 the UK had deposits on glass and other materials that end up in Joy Snyder is the grand fromage bottles only which were collected at landfills are in fact a resource. Many of Raven. She was the first ever stores for reuse. Rag-and-bone men items can be recycled, such as pa- depot worker hired in 1992 and who used to collect old rags, furni- per, plastics and metals. Organic has been here ever since. In her ture, metal and the like were almost materials such as unwanted food past life Joy has been an bird biol- extinct. Alberta had just introduced and yard waste can be compos- ogy technician with YTG and did Beverage Container Regulations the ted and used to grow new plants. interpretive work at Swan Haven year before and BC’s Recycling Coun- For a while in the 20th century and on the Dempster which led cil began operations in 1974. There it was acceptable to throw plas- to work in the Raven Education was no recycling in the Yukon and tics and the like in the garbage department. She also studied recycling in Ontario was negligible. and it was Goodnight Vienna as at the Alberta College of Art for About the only recycling that oc- far as they were concerned. For- four years, which accounts for curred on a large scale was metal re- tunately views are changing and, the good taste with which the cycling. The energy problems of the appropriately for recycling, are bottle depot was redecorated..

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