Trash to Cash

Cash through Recycling Trash

The exchange of trash for cash is most importantly owed to the fact that garbage is not intrinsically worthless, but is—in dependence of the context—attached to a certain value. Through the change of its owner or user, an object's value can increase. Something that is regarded as garbage and thus as valueless by one person in a particular context, may be regarded of a higher value by another person in another context. For example, industrial waste products of one factory can be used as a resource in other industrial contexts. Similarly, household waste can be grouped into different material categories such as paper, aluminum, or plastic, conditioned and sold as a resource for production. Since an aura of having no value still adheres to the waste material, a somewhat mystic dimension has often been attached to the ability of creating value out of it. In this respect, “trash to cash” particularly refers to a narrative that became popular in capitalist countries between the late 19th century and the 1920s.

Its main idea is reflected in numerous publications titled Wealth From Waste (1908), Millions From Waste (1920), and others. These argue that modern garbage is a waste and hides resources that only need to be made accessible. The narrative can be regarded as an outcome of changing consumption habits of the time that consequentially led to an ever-increasing amount of garbage. Entrepreneurs started to become interested in filtering out products of value on a large scale. Throughout Europe, several recycling factories opened. For example, Budapest introduced sortation in 1895, Munich in 1898, and Berlin in 1907.

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