{"product_id":"recycling-9780262537827","title":"Recycling","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn overview of recycling as an activity and a process, following different materials through the waste stream.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eIs 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJ 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 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFinn Arne Jørgensen is Professor of Environmental History at the University of Stavanger, Norway.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50523510505746,"sku":"9780262537827","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_acdc52e0-e623-4166-b310-131cf76b74e8.jpg?v=1731149672","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/recycling-9780262537827","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}