Natural Resources and Socio-economic Effects of Recycling

Abstract

As part and parcel of the social production process, the recycling phenomenon has universal historical characteristics. It is, on the one hand, imposed and determined by the very nature of the production process, and on the other, it is a kind of emulation of nature itself. Having been either obvious or marginal in importance, or both, the recycling phenomenon has been taken as a commonplace in ordinary thinking for a very long time; it could hardly pretend to occupy a separate place in economic analysis. This benign neglect of the problem, however, has actually found itself in sharp collision with the reality of the twentieth century, when limits to growth became visible and dangerously palpable. The writing is on the wall; hence the recycling problem can no longer be left on the outskirts of science, technology and economics. This is also tantamount to the inclusion of this problem in the realm of political economy. In terms of development philosophy, recycling has invaded the box of strategic tools.