Recycling (Paperback)

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 Jorgensen 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. Jorgensen offers an accessible and engaging overview of recycling as an activity and as a process at the intersection of the material and the ideological. Jorgensen 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?" Jorgensen argues that recycling is necessary-as both symbolic action and physical activity that has a tangible effect on the real world.

General

Imprint:	MIT Press
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	MIT Press Essential Knowledge series
Release date:	October 2019
First published:	2019
Authors:	Finn Arne Jorgensen (Professor)
Dimensions:	178 x 127 x 16mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	208
ISBN-13:	978-0-262-53782-7
Categories:	Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Applied ecology > General Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Pollution & threats to the environment > General
LSN:	0-262-53782-6
Barcode:	9780262537827

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!