The Business of Waste: Great Britain and Germany, 1945 to the Present
Cambridge University Press, 9/2/2013
EAN 9781107027213, ISBN10: 1107027217
Hardcover, 343 pages, 23.1 x 15.7 x 2.8 cm
Language: English
The advent of consumer societies in the United Kingdom and West Germany after 1945 led to the mass 'production' of garbage. This book compares the social, cultural and economic fallout of the growing volume and changing composition of waste in the two countries from 1945 to the present through sustained attention to changes in the business of handling household waste. Though the UK and Germany are similar in population density, degrees of urbanisation, and standardisation, the two countries took profoundly different paths from low-waste to throwaway societies, and more recently, towards the goal of 'zero-waste'. The authors explore evolving balances between public and private provision in waste services; the transformation of public cleansing into waste management; the role of government legislation and regulation; emerging conceptualisations of recycling and resource recovery; and the gradual shift of the industry's regulatory and business context from local to national and then to international.
Introduction
Part I. Cleansing Services, 1945 to the 1960s
From Societies of Want to Societies of Purity
1. Establishing (and re-establishing) an industry
waste services in the UK and Germany from the late nineteenth century to the 1950s
2. Rationalization measures
3. 'Salvage' and the industry
Part II. Grappling with Crisis
From the 1960s to 1980
4. The waste flood
5. Politicizing waste
national and regional legislation and political activism
6. Coping with the crisis
Part III. Re-conceptualizing Waste and Conceptualizing Waste Management, 1980 to the Present
7. Framing waste
measurement, regulation, and legislation in the 1980s
8. The waste management industry since 1990.
'The Business of Waste presents a penetrating and deeply researched interdisciplinary study of the changing dimensions of waste management in Great Britain and Germany from 1945 to the present. The authors' detailed examination of the history strongly supports their conclusion that successful waste management policy requires cooperation between the private, public, and third sectors and the prioritization of social and political values over narrow economic ones.' Joel A. Tarr, Richard S. Caliguiri University Professor of History and Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
'A must-read for both business and environmental historians, this book is an impressively innovative study of an important and badly neglected subject. Comparative history at its very best.' Geoffrey Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Harvard Business School
'The Business of Waste advances our understanding of the history of waste management in the United Kingdom and Germany in the postwar period. Stokes, Köster, and Sambrook give systematic attention to how municipal refuse and salvage operations evolved in both nations. This book is an important comparative history on waste management and valuable context for the success of zero-waste initiatives.' Carl A. Zimring, Associate Professor of Sustainability Studies, Pratt Institute