Plates for rags: the issue of the perception of recyclable materials by the Polish society from the second half of the nineteenth century to 1939

Abstract

The collection and processing of secondary raw materials on an industrial scale began in the second half of the 19th century with the development of technologies for
converting rags into paper and melting down scrap iron. How industry depended on a steady supply of various types of raw materials, including secondary raw materials,
was demonstrated by the First World War, when for the first time confiscated public and private property began to be used so extensively to obtain metals. After 1918, many
European countries, including Poland, considered the wider use of industrial and domestic secondary waste to, among other things, obtain a more favorable trade balance and, in the late 1930s, to support the military in preparation for a possible armed conflict.