Salvaging through War and Recycling in Peace : A Comparison of Prior British Salvaging Efforts during World War II and Present Swedish Recycling Efforts

Abstract: Recycling has often been overlooked in the conversation on how to combat climate change. The reasons behind recycling being pushed to the wayside point to difficulties in mobilizing the general public, the inherent design of recyclables, and confusing legislation. However, throughout history there have been notable “salvage” (recycling) processes that changed social fabrics and economic structures. This thesis compares the past salvaging revolution of Great Britain during World War II with the current recycling revolution of Sweden. The thesis uses theories of mobilization in order to contrast wartime events with contemporary peaceful democracy. Through the theories of wartime mobilization, discursive mobilization and material ecological mobilization, the thesis creates a content analysis based on the author’s own 5-point scale system, in combination with semi-structured interviews with key actors in the Swedish recycling sector and historical anecdotes from World War II. The findings of the thesis show that there is a gap in quality of mobilization done in past British salvaging efforts and present Swedish recycling efforts, which involves the extent of active state engagement, commitment to the promotion of recycling, and the under/well-establishment of end user systems.