Woodbury, New Jersey becomes the first city in the US to mandate recycling.
The Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is enacted to close open dumps, create standards for landfills, incinerators and the disposal of hazardous waste. Non-profit organization “Is Five” organizes Canada’s first multi-material curbside pickup in The Beaches neighbourhood located on the east side of Toronto which encompassed 80,000 households. University City, MO becomes one of the first municipalities in the country to offer Curbside Recycling to its residents The first recycling mill is built in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.īeverage container recycling regulations were first introduced province-wide in Alberta, Canada. Canadian Government established the Department of Environment, commonly referred to as Environment Canada. The first “Bottle Bill” is born: Oregon introduces a refundable deposit (a nickel) on beer and soda bottles as an incentive to recycle. Now, Earth Day is supported by over 192 countries on April 22nd.Įvery year over 1,000,000,000 people and almost every school-aged child takes part in annual Earth Day celebrations to promote conserving our environment by protecting, recycling, cleaning and innovating. Earth Day was founded in the U.S by U.S Senator Gaylord Nelson and globally by entrepreneur John McConnell. The first Earth Day brings national attention to the problem of increasing waste and the importance of recycling. In the form of a Mobius strip, the symbol was designed by Gary Anderson after a Chicago-based recycled-container company sponsored an art contest to raise environmental awareness.
The Mobius Loop is introduced as the symbol for Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Recognizing the value of used aluminum cans as a raw material for making new cans, the aluminum industry will soon begin creating a massive system for recycling and redeeming used beverage containers. The August 1st issue of Life magazine offers a two-page article on “Throwaway Living.” Consumers are progressively sold on the idea that single-use items are a necessity of the modern lifestyle.Įase and convenience become the two most desirable qualities in product marketing, inevitably leading to parks, forests and highways becoming littered with garbage. Goods such as nylon, rubber and many metals are rationed and recycled to help support the war effort. Many people survive the Great Depression by peddling scraps of metal, rags and other items. Due to massive shortages of raw materials during World War I, the Federal government creates the Waste Reclamation Service with the motto “Don’t Waste Waste – Save It.” 1930’S