Resources, Conservation and Recycling 31 (2001) 229240

www.elsevier.com/locate/resconrec

Scavenging in America: back to the future?

Martin Medina *
El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, P.O. Box L, Chula Vista, CA 91912, USA Received 28 July 1999; accepted 25 August 2000

Abstract The informal recovery of recyclables in the US has been carried out by scavengers since soon after the arrival of the European settlers. This paper analyzes scavenging activities in America from the 17th century to the present. It argues that throughout this period scavenging has been an important survival strategy to mostly poor and immigrant individuals. Scavenging continued to exist even in the booming economy of the 1990s due to industrial demand for inexpensive raw materials and the persistence of poverty. The paper also argues that, in the event of a downturn in the US economy and if the safety net for the poor were severely curtailed, scavenging could increase signicantly. 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Scavenging; Recycling; History; US

1. Introduction The literature on recycling contains several assertions on scavengers and their activities. First, it is often assumed that scavenging is a relatively recent activity. Second, scavengers are often portrayed as the poorest of the poor. Third, scavenging is considered as a marginal occupation, i.e an activity that has a negligible economic impact on society. This paper examines the previous three statements by analyzing contemporary and historical evidence on scavenging in the US. Scavenging has been a common occupation among immigrant and poor individuals throughout the American history. Since the arrival of European settlers to the present, individuals have salvaged various waste materials to be reused or recycled.
* Tel.: + 1-52-66313535; fax: +1-52-66313065. E-mail address: martin.medina-martinez.grd.genr@aya.yale.edu (M. Medina). 0921-3449/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 9 2 1 - 3 4 4 9 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 8 2 - 3

230

M. Medina / Resources, Conser6ation and Recycling 31 (2001) 229240

Despite being an ordinary pursuit, the study of scavenging activities past and present in America has been neglected. We know little about the social, economic and environmental impact of scavenging. We lack a thorough understanding of the characteristics of the individuals and of the causal factors that compel them to become scavengers. This paper attempts to ll some of the gaps in our knowledge of scavenging and discusses a possible scenario for the next few years, given the current trend towards cutting back welfare benets for the poor.

2. Scavenging in the past The recovery of recyclables from the waste stream by scavengers has a long tradition in America. Evidence suggests that scavenging and recycling activities appeared in colonial America as an adaptive response to scarcity. A signicant percentage of the European immigrants arrived with little money. Britain prohibited industrial activities in Colonial America for two main reasons. First, to ensure that the colonists would purchase British products. Second, to prevent the industrial activities in the colonies from competing with the British industry. Nevertheless, nearly every home produced some kind of manufactured items on a small scale. Many households, for example, produced their own soap from animal fat Dolan, 1964a. The reuse and recycling of materials involved less effort and energy than obtaining them from virgin sources. The colonists developed a resource-efcient culture in which products were used for as long as possible, reused, mended, repaired, and, when they were useless, recovered and recycled. Melting and recycling metals, for instance, made economic sense compared with the mining and rening necessary for obtaining them from virgin sources. Thus, the causes of scavenging activities are fundamentally economic (Medina, 1997a, 2000a). Some of the earliest documented instances of recycling in America are the following. Joseph Jenks used commercial scrap in the rst iron furnace in the country, built in Massachusetts in 1642, only 22 years after the pilgrims arrived at Plymouth. Paul Revere, the Massachusetts patriot, also engaged in recycling activities, advertising for and buying scrap copper and brass for his foundry (Barringer, 1954a; Weeks, 1969a). The rst paper mill in the country was established in 1690, and for about 125 years papermaking relied on scavengers or rag pickers who supplied rags to the mills. Prior to the widespread use of wood pulp in paper manufacture, linen and cotton rags constituted the most important raw materials for the paper industry. Scavengers recovered post-consumer rags thus playing a crucial role in papermaking. Rag pickers formed an important and essential part of the recycling system. The demand for rags often exceeded the supply, which created a chronic shortage of rags. Rags were scarce, because people used clothing as long as possible and discarded them infrequently, due to widespread poverty. Newspaper ads and appeals for people particularly housewives, children and domestics to save their rags were common in the 18th century. Sometimes the ads offered monetary

M. Medina / Resources, Conser6ation and Recycling 31 (2001) 229240

231

rewards for rags in addition to their full value (Anonymous, 1941; Weeks, 1969b; Munsell, 1980). In 1776, Massachusetts enacted a law appointing a person in each town to receive rags for the paper mills, and urging people to save their rags. Scavengers called for rags from house to house until the end of the 18th century. Rag collection, therefore, was considered a strategic activity by the authorities, who tried to convey this to the public by propagandizing it as a patriotic endeavor and appealed to people to save their rags (Weeks, 1969c; Lipsett, 1974a). After independence, and freed from the restrictions on trade and industry imposed by Britain, industrial activities grew gradually. Industry began producing consumer goods, agricultural implements, and industrial tools and equipment. Economic activities created demand for raw materials, such as rags for papermaking and metals for various industrial uses. Industrial activities developed rst in New England, where many towns specialized in the manufacture of a particular product. Waterbury, CT produced brass, Leominster, MA, manufactured horn products, such as combs and buttons, and so on. Scavenging activities satised that demand for materials while providing a livelihood to many immigrants (Dolan, 1964b). Peddling played a signicant role in American society and economy for nearly three centuries. Peddling originated in Boston, the main port in the East Coast, in the 17th century. Peddlers distributed consumer goods and supplies to pioneer families. Since cash was scarce in the colonial period, peddlers accepted animal furs, scrap metal and other items as payment. Some peddlers specialized in a particular product and others provided services. Tinkers, for example, went from house to house repairing pewter objects and collecting cracked or bent pewter ware to be recycled. Colonial society imposed rigid social distinctions between freemen and goodmen. The traditional occupations available to goodmen were sailor, sherman, shipbuilder or apprentice to a tailor, candle maker, soap boiler or silversmith. Peddling provided an alternative livelihood and opportunities for advance, adventure and travel. Some peddlers prospered and became wholesalers, selling to other peddlers. Peddlers were the main link between producers and consumers (Dolan, 1964c). During the 18th and 19th centuries, and as late as the 1930s, peddling ourished. Peddlers, rst equipped with backpacks and canoes and then with rafts and horse wagons, collected rags, bones, scrap metal and other waste materials from city alleys and municipal dumps. They bartered a wide array of merchandise, such as pots, pans, washbasins, trays, beeswax, eyeglasses, calico, medicines, and so forth, in exchange for rags, bones, scrap metal and other waste materials. Scrap metal was melted and recycled into new products, while bones were used to make glue, and rags to make paper or rag rugs (Barringer, 1954b). Scrap collection provided a livelihood to many poor immigrants from Northern and Eastern Europe that escaped from the economic and social turmoil in Europe in the 1840s. Enterprising Italian and Jewish immigrants played a signicant role in founding the scrap recycling industry in America. Many Jews and Italians started collecting scrap in horse carts, prospered and became dealers and owners of steel

232

M. Medina / Resources, Conser6ation and Recycling 31 (2001) 229240

minimills. Minimills use scrap metal as its main raw material in steel manufacture, as opposed to integrated mills, that use virgin materials. The present-day giants of scrap and waste materials, as well as several leading US nanciers and merchants started out as peddlers, such as Sears Roebuck and Scovill Manufacturing Co. Several fortunes were made in the 19th century by recovering and recycling waste materials. In Randolph, MA, a man named Pratt made a fortune by collecting scrap leather from harness-makers shops and shoemakers shops to make shoestrings (Katzman, 1988). After the Civil War, the country experienced rapid urban growth, which increased the generation of wastes and provided scavengers more opportunities to recover kitchen wastes, dead cats and dogs, and all kinds of materials to make a living. Recycling was particularly extensive in New England during the nineteenth century, in which individuals exchanged tin ware for rags, rubber and metals. There were a number of depots specialized in equipping those immigrants as peddlers throughout the Northeast, with the larger ones based in Brooklyn. As late as the 1930s, collectors could hire horses and wagons for $1 a day, plus 50 per day for feed (Barringer, 1954c; Melosi, 1973). At the beginning of the 20th century, the most common materials gathered by scavengers in the Midwest and the Southeast were horseshoes, wagon tires and metal scrap from old agricultural equipment. And in the Southwest, bison, cattle and horse bones accumulated on the prairies of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, which were used by glue-making companies. Scrap rubber could also be obtained in large quantities from discarded rubber boots and shoes, rubber rollers from old washing machines and other products. A method commonly used at the turn of the century was called reduction, by which dead animals and organic wastes were cooked to produce grease used in the manufacture of perfume, lubricants, glycerin, candles and soap as well as a residual used as fertilizer (Lipsett, 1974b). Up until the end of the 19th century, most American cities lacked municipal waste collection. Scavengers performed the bulk of waste collection in many American towns and cities at the turn of the century. Scavenging teams collected approximately 350 000 loads of household wastes, ashes, and street sweepings in Boston in 1890, about 2000 cubic yards of refuse daily in Chicago during the same year, and an average of 612 t of wastes a day in New York City at the turn of the century. Also in New York, scavengers removed 15 000 dead horses then used widely for transportation from city streets in 1888. Until 1878, the city of New York paid the so-called scow trimmers for their services and allowed them to keep what they recovered from the wastes. These individuals rummaged through mixed wastes on the dumping scows barges used to transport the refuse from the city to the disposal sites searching for reusable and recyclable items. From 1878 to 1882 the city eliminated the payments but allowed scavengers to salvage any items from the waste. And starting in 1882, local authorities charged a at rate to scow trimmers for the privilege of scavenging the citys refuse. Most of these scow trimmers were Italian immigrants organized by the local padrones (Thompson, 1879; Anonymous, 1891; American Public Works Association, 1976; Hering and Greely, 1921; Melosi, 1981; Strasser, 1999).

M. Medina / Resources, Conser6ation and Recycling 31 (2001) 229240

233

Scavenging at a large scale continued during the rst half of the twentieth century in the US from streets and dumps. Scavengers collected various types of materials for reuse or recycling in American dumps until the 1950s, when, for sanitary considerations, as well as potential liability suits from scavengers, dump scavenging was banned (Rathje and Murphy, 1992). Poverty is an important factor that causes people to become scavengers, but it is not the only one. Extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary measures. In times of war or severe economic crises, scavenging reappears with particular intensity. For example, during the American Revolution, the women of the colonies brought to the town squares their spare lead, pewter, iron kettles and pots in order to be melted for weapons. During the Civil War, drives in the South produced water pipes, sash weights, bells and other metal items to be recycled and made into weapons. In the aftermath of the Great Depression, many unemployed individuals collected scrap as a means of obtaining some cash. And during World War II and the Korean War, salvage drives in the US produced 9 and 2.5 million t, respectively, of scrap that would not have been available under normal conditions (Barringer, 1954d; Hunter, 1967).

3. Contemporary scavenging Although in different form than in the past, scavenging still exists in America. The poor and the homeless recover materials from the waste stream for reuse or recycling. No hard, reliable data exist on the number of individuals engaged in scavenging, since it is an unregulated and unrecorded activity. No research has been conducted to obtain an estimate of informal recycling activities. Nevertheless, it has been estimated that there are, at any given night, about 700 000 homeless people in the US, and scavenging has been found to be a common activity among them (Demko and Jackson, 1995). Research on homelessness and scavenging is scarce, but a 1987 study among aluminum can collectors in Cincinnati, Ohio and Lexington, Kentucky, found that 14% of the individuals interviewed reported to be homeless. Of the individuals in the sample, 36% received Social Security, disability or pension payments; 26% received welfare or charity; 18% reported to be engaged in odd jobs, such as selling their plasma or cleaning lots; 16% received assistance from their family or friends, and 4% had full-time jobs. Thus, for these collectors, recovering aluminum cans supplements other sources of income. Ninety-six percent of the respondents were male; 26% were black, and 42% were war veterans. As for reasons why they scavenge, 76% indicated that they could not nd another job or that they were disabled or too old (Royse, 1987). Collecting aluminum cans provides scavengers with cash while rendering a valuable service to society. Among the benets of salvaging aluminum cans are the reduction of litter, and the environmental benets of recycling aluminum, such as energy savings, reduced water consumption and lower air and water pollution, compared to the recovery of aluminum from bauxite. Homeless and poor individu-

234

M. Medina / Resources, Conser6ation and Recycling 31 (2001) 229240

als also recover food to eat from grocery stores dumpsters, discarded clothes for reuse, recyclables for sale, and whatever items they nd that can be resold, such as books (Medina, 2000b). For a number of years, aluminum cans have been one of the most common items recovered by scavengers. Aluminum can collectors can be observed, particularly in big cities, around the country. In many cities, scavengers steal aluminum cans that have been separated at the source by households participating in recycling programs. In recent years, the recovery and stealing of paper by scavengers has also increased. Encouraged by historical price highs for most grades of paper in the mid-1990s, scavengers have resorted to stealing source-separated paper from recycling programs. The price of newsprint, for instance, went from $445 per t in June 1993 to $680 in May 1995 and market pulp went from $465 per t to $910 in the same period (Jaffe, 1995). The thieves, known as paper poachers, steal the newspapers placed curbside before being picked up by city crews. Paper poachers use different methods than the aluminum can collectors: the former use pick up trucks, vans and even trailer beds to transport the paper, while the latter use plastic garbage bags and shopping carts. Thus, the paper poachers reduce the local recycling programs revenues. In an effort to stop scavenging and the drain of revenue, cities have followed different approaches, ranging from requiring a permit to collect materials, to outright banning of scavenging, and even crackdowns conducted by police ofcers. The problem of paper poaching has been more severe in big cities Los Angeles lost an estimated 4000 tons of newsprint a month to paper poachers at a cost of $2 million in lost revenues in 1995. The city plans to instruct participants in its recycling program to separate at the source mixed grades of paper with the newsprint, to make scavenging more difcult (Mitchell, 1995). Paper thieves cost New York City around $4.5 million in 1995 by beating city crews on recycling days. Sanitation police ofcers started arresting and ning paper poachers in January 1995. Scavengers also recover cans, bottles, magazines, clothes and anything else that can be restored, resold or recycled (Anonymous, 1995). According to several reports, organized scavengers working in teams in order to steal cans and bottles from recycling bins, are common in Southern California. As a result of persistent scavenging, 220 cities and 33 counties in California have recycling programs with anti-scavenging provisions (Lacey, 1994). Theft of recyclables from recycling bins have been observed in cities across the country, including Chicago, Detroit, Houston, St. Louis, Washington DC, Boston, and San Francisco (Warren, 1989; Hartstein, 1995; Thomas, 1995; Mason, 1995; Verhoevek, 1995; Bowles, 1995; Matthews, 1995). Scavengers show a high degree of creativity in their undertakings, which sometimes constitute criminal activities. A reportedly common practice, especially in poor neighborhoods, is the scavenging of bricks of abandoned and partially destroyed buildings. Those bricks are later reused in construction projects. Construction companies often hire and pay individuals to recover bricks from those buildings. Brick scavenging has been reported in the Bronx, New York, San

M. Medina / Resources, Conser6ation and Recycling 31 (2001) 229240

235

Francisco, St. Louis, Detroit, Lowell and Lawrence, MA, as well as in New Orleans. In Harlem, New York City, scavengers, many of them homeless, recover scrap metal from abandoned buildings along the waterfront. In Detroit, scavengers strip historic buildings of recyclable materials, as well as of items to be sold to antique collectors. Also in Detroit, scavengers steal scrap metal in midnight raids from abandoned manufacturing plants, which has prompted a federal investigation (Aiges, 1989; Kahn et al., 1993; St. John, 1993; Holland, 1996; Sullivan, 1994; Almeida, 1995). A potentially dangerous practice, for the scavengers themselves and for city dwellers in general, is the theft of copper wire from electrical facilities, electrical and telephone lines, construction sites, and from subway transmission lines. In the New York City subway, for instance, such thefts have existed for several years, causing delays, and the death of a thief in 1993. In 1992 alone there were 384 cases of theft of copper wire in the New York City subways. Scrap dealers sometimes assist the thieves by waiting nearby with a van or truck. Theft of copper wire has also been reported in Russia and Mexico (Faison, 1993; Bivens, 1993; Santacruz, 1995). Scavengers take advantage of special occasions in which unusual items are discarded. For example, a large number of scavengers were out during the designated week that residents of Birmingham, Michigan could throw away large pieces of furniture. And scavengers are usually out and active at the end of each semester in the college town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, when students move out and discard furniture and other reusable or repairable items (Colborn, 1991; Medina, 1995).

4. The future of scavenging? Predicting the future is a risky business. Pages and pages could be lled with predictions that never materialized. Nevertheless, it seems improbable that the paper industry will rely, once again, on rags as its main raw material. The return of the rag men can be considered highly doubtful. It is also unlikely that the peddlers will make a comeback in the future and be as common as they once were in 19th-century America. Two components are necessary for a market to exist, i.e. supply and demand. For any recyclable material, the interplay of factors that affect demand and supply determine the price for that material. Variables such as interest rates, economic growth, natural disasters in producing areas, investment, mandated minimum recycled product content, consumer spending, and consumer expectations about the future affect the demand and prices paid for recyclables. On the other hand, the supply of recyclables has shown a steady increase over the last several years due to the proliferation of recycling programs in American cities: curbside pickup programs for recyclables went from 1042 in 1988 to 6678 in 1995. Prices paid for recyclables tend to uctuate widely, depending on market conditions. The high prices for pulp and the different grades of paper in the mid-1990s encouraged scavengers to steal paper from recycling programs. In the future, scavengers are

236

M. Medina / Resources, Conser6ation and Recycling 31 (2001) 229240

likely to react in a similar fashion to high prices of recyclable materials (Young, 1995). Based on historical and recent experience on scavenging, the following generalizations can be advanced.

4.1. Sca6engers tend to be migrants

For most of US history, scavengers have tended to be migrants. The national origin of scavengers reects the large migratory movements into the US. Scavengers in the 17th century were English and Irish, then mostly Italians and Eastern European Jews in the 19th century. And in the second half of the 20th century, scavenging by Hispanic individuals grew signicantly, particularly in states and regions with large Hispanic populations, such as California, Texas, and the New York City metropolitan area.

4.2. Sca6engers tend to be poor

Scavenging constitutes a source of cash for disabled or old individuals with low incomes. Scavengers substandard earnings may be due to their low educational level or to the lack of marketable skills. Scavengers are willing to put up with direct contact with mixed wastes, which may entail health risks, because they may have no other choice. Nevertheless, scavenging in the past provided opportunities for upward mobility to some entrepreneurial individuals, who became middlemen, wholesalers, founders of companies, and owners of steel minimills.

4.3. Society ascribes a low status to sca6engers

Society considers scavenging as one of the least desirable activities due to scavengers daily proximity with garbage and their sometimes raggedly appearance. In the 17th century, people referred to scavengers and peddlers as rascals and in posterior centuries as vagabonds, vagrants, and less than honest individuals. Public contempt for scavengers is still common nowadays.

4.4. Sca6enging acti6ities supplement other sources of income

Even though information on scavenging in the US is scarce, this occupation seems to be an important survival strategy for the poor, the homeless, and some migrants.

4.5. Sca6engers react to market conditions

In an effort to maximize their earnings, scavengers retrieve the recyclables that command the highest prices. If the price is high enough, scavengers will collect that material, and in some cases, they will steal it from recycling programs, buildings, and from existing electrical wires, telephone lines or subway transmission lines. The

M. Medina / Resources, Conser6ation and Recycling 31 (2001) 229240

237

US is the worlds largest source of recyclable materials and the largest exporter. Increasingly, materials from curbside recycling programs are sold and recycled abroad, particularly in Mexico and Asia. International trade in recyclables has been growing rapidly over the last few years. Mexico purchased 1 billion dollars of recyclables from the US in 1998. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has eliminated most tariffs on recyclables, which has increased imports by Mexico from 700 000 t in 1993 to 1.2 million t in 1997. The current economic crisis in Asia has reduced demand and trade in recyclables in that area, but it is expected to go up again in the near future. These factors and others that affect the global supply and demand for recyclables determine the prices paid for those materials. Thus, poor individuals willing to scavenge and industrial demand for materials are two necessary conditions for scavenging to exist. Demand and prices paid for recyclables will certainly continue to uctuate, depending on market conditions. Nevertheless, the collection of aluminum cans by scavengers will probably continue to exist in the foreseeable future, due to the ubiquitous presence of aluminum cans in the waste stream, as well as the lower capital and operating costs of recycling aluminum, compared to the use of virgin aluminum. Furthermore, aluminum companies raised prices for aluminum sheet (used to make beverage cans) by 50% on 1 January 1995. The new price for converting the ingot into sheet is $0.32 per ingot plus the market price of the ingot. Companies that manufacture their own cans by recycling used beverage cans avoid the payment of the new fee, which translates into lower costs. Moreover, a plant that recycles aluminum cans can be built at a fraction of the cost of building one that makes cans from virgin resources. Therefore, aluminum recycling makes economic sense (Conny and Coors, 1990; Sorrentino, 1995). It is highly unlikely that poverty will be completely eradicated in America in the near future. Scavenging has persisted in the US despite a booming economy in the 1990s, low unemployment and general prosperity. Furthermore, given the current backlash against welfare, the existing safety net for the poor could be severely curtailed. If that happens, in order to survive, the poor could be forced to scavenge to make up for lost income or to supplement minimum-wage earnings. Homeless and poor individuals in other developed countries, such as Canada, Japan, Spain and Italy recover food to eat from dumpsters located outside grocery stores, as well as discarded clothing to be reused, recyclables for sale, and whatever items they nd that can be resold, such as books. Despite the existence of a safety net for the poor and widespread prosperity in industrialized countries, scavenging persists. Some of the homeless individuals who scavenge have decided to live on the streets, despite the existence of shelters. It seems that for some, living on the streets and scavenging is a lifestyle that they prefer. Some scavengers suffer from mental illnesses and substance abuse problems. Still others complement income from minimum wage earnings, welfare, disability, and social security payments with scavenging (Medina, 1997b). Scavenging is a common occurrence in the Third World countries, because of high unemployment, widespread poverty and lack of a safety net for the poor.

238

M. Medina / Resources, Conser6ation and Recycling 31 (2001) 229240

Scavenging has also increased in Eastern Europe, in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the ensuing unemployment and removal of the safety net in those countries. If the safety net for Americas poor were removed, scavenging would probably increase, magnifying the theft of recyclables and potential conict between scavengers and recycling programs. The lack of a safety net could result in a return to widespread scavenging by the poor. Thus, scavengers, particularly aluminum can collectors, could become as common as the rag men and the peddlers of the past (Medina, 1997c).

5. Conclusions The study of scavenging activities in the past and in the present in America has been neglected. There are many gaps in our knowledge of scavenging, its patterns, how it has evolved throughout history, and on its importance. More research is necessary, particularly to obtain an estimate of the economic importance of this activity and on its linkages with the formal sector. Nevertheless, and based on the evidence examined for this paper, it is possible to conclude that scavenging has existed since the arrival of European settlers. Despite appearances that scavengers were the poorest of the poor, this activity provided a livelihood to many immigrants as well opportunities for upward mobility. Some clever and enterprising scavengers were even able to make a fortune by recovering particular waste materials. Scavenging played a crucial role in supplying raw materials to various industries, such as papermaking and steel making. Before cities had municipal waste collection, scavengers performed this activity as well. Scavenging, therefore, has had a signicant social, economic, and environmental impact. Scavenging constitutes an adaptive response to scarcity, and is more prevalent in periods of high unemployment and poverty, economic crises and during wars. Individuals become scavengers due to lack of education, marketable skills, old age, drug or mental problems. Today, scavenging supplements other sources of income for disadvantaged individuals. Scavengers respond to economic factors and recover the materials with the highest prices that the industry demand. When the price of a material is high, scavengers may even resort to stealing it. In the event of a downturn in the US economy and removal of the safety net for the poor, scavenging could increase, which could cause conicts with municipal recycling programs.

References
Aiges S. Homes razed one brick at a time, Times-Picayune, June 30. BT 1989;1:1. Almeida M. Abandoned waterfront is quarry for wire scavengers. The New York Times, April 9, CY, 1995; 9:4. American Public Works Association. History of Public Works in the United States, 1776 1976. Baltimore: American Public Works Association, 1976, 164. Anonymous Disposal of Refuse in American Cities. Scientic American, 1891, 136. Anonymous. The Story of Paper-Making. Chicago: Butler Paper Company, 1941, 35.

M. Medina / Resources, Conser6ation and Recycling 31 (2001) 229240

239

Anonymous. Paper chasing, The New Yorker. February 6, 1995, 29 30. Barringer E. The Story of Scrap, revised ed. Washington, DC: Institute of Scrap Iron & Steel, 1954a:76. Barringer E. The Story of Scrap, revised ed. Washington, DC: Institute of Scrap Iron & Steel, 1954b:12135. Barringer E. The Story of Scrap, revised ed. Washington, DC: Institute of Scrap Iron & Steel, 1954c:49. Barringer E. The Story of Scrap, revised ed. Washington, DC: Institute of Scrap Iron & Steel, 1954d:22. Bivens M. Copper fever rages throughout Russias second city, Los Angeles Times. June 20, A, 1993;4:1. Bowles S. A battle for used newsprint: scavengers nab prots from DCs contractors, Washington Post. July 16, B, 1995;4:1. Colborn M. The scavengers get curb service in Birmingham, Detroit News. April 12, F, 1991;1:2. Coors CBM. A Catalyst for Change. Golden, CO: Adolph Coors Company, 1990:92. Demko GJ, Jackson MC. Populations At Risk in America: Vulnerable Groups At The End of the Twentieth Century. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995. Dolan J. The Yankee Peddlers of Early America. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1964a. Dolan J. The Yankeee Peddlers of Early America. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1964ab. Dolan J. The Yankee Peddlers of Early America. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1964bc. Faison S. Thefts of copper cable threaten to cripple New Yorks subways. The New York Times May, A, 1 1993;1:26. Hartstein L. Loss of trash cash sends suburbs after recycling thieves. Chicago Tribune September , 1D, 1 1995;7:3. Hering S, Greely S. Collection and Disposal of Municipal Refuse. New York: McGraw Hill, 1921:125. Holland E. Scavengers are pillaging old buildings, neighbors say, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 4, A, 1996;1:4. Hunter D. Papermaking: The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967. Jaffe M. Paper industrys amazing resurgence. Standard & poors industry surveys. Building and Forest Products, 32, 1995, Section 1. Kahn A, Al R, Curbside claim jumpers in the mother lode, San Francisco Chronicle. August 6, C, 1993;3:3. Katzman M. From horse carts to minimills, The Public Interest, 1988;121 135. Lacey M, Crackdown on scavenger squads proposed, Los Angeles Times. September 10, B, 1994;1:2. Lipsett Ch. 100 Years of Recycling History: From Yankee Tincart Peddlers to Wall Street Giants. New York: The Atlas Publishing Co, 1974a:123. Lipsett C. 100 Years of Recycling History: From Yankee Tincart Peddlers to Wall Street Giants. New York: The Atlas Publishing Co, 1974b. Mason J. Police to trash scavengers of recycling bins, Houston Chronicle, September 19, A, 1995;13:1. Matthews T. A move to can the homeless, The New York Times, December 3, CY 1995;12:3. Medina M. Personal observation, Chapel Hill, NC, 1995, May 1995 and May 1996. Medina M, Scavenging on the border: a study of the informal recycling sector in Laredo, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Ph. D. Dissertation, Yale University, New Haven 1997. Medina M., Scavenging on the border: a study of the informal recycling sector in Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Ph. D. Dissertation, Yale University, New Haven 1997a. Medina M. Informal Collection and Recycling of Wastes in Developing Countries: Issues and Opportunities. Tokyo: United Nations University/Institute of Advanced Studies, 1997bc. Medina M., 2000a, A short history of scavenging. Comparative civilizations, Review, in press. Medina M, 2000b, A short history of scavenging. Comparative civilizations, Review, in press. Melosi M., 1973, Out of sight, Out of mind The environment and disposal of municipal refuse, 1860 1920. The Historian, 621640. Melosi M. Garbage in the Cities: Refuse, Reform, and the Environment, 1880-1980. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1981:712. Mitchell J, Digging for dollars, Los Angeles Times, October 30. B, 1995;1:2. Munsell J. Chronology of the Origin and Progress of Paper and Paper-Making. New York: Garland Publishing, 1980.

240

M. Medina / Resources, Conser6ation and Recycling 31 (2001) 229240

Rathje W. Murphy C. Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Royse D. Homelessness among trash pickers, Psychological Reports, 1987;808 810. Santacruz F. Hurtaron el Cableado Telefonico para 29,500 Lneas en Hermosillo, Excelsior, Mexico City, November 23, 1995;A-32. Sorrentino AM, Strong recovery to continue through 1995. Standard and poors industry surveys. Aluminum and Steel Industries. 1995, June 8, Section 2. St. John P. Scavengers are making the problem worse, Detroit News, July 4, A, 1993;7:5. Strasser S. Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash. New York: Metropolitan Books, 1999. Sullivan R. Brick scavenger is killed when a wall collapses, The New York Times, March 18, B, 1994;3:5. Thomas K. Soaring cost of newsprint has paper capers on a roll, Detroit News & Free Press, February 19, C, 1995;1:1. Thompson H. Disposal of city garbage in New Orleans, 1879, Sanitarian, 545. Verhoevek S. Thieves nd gold in yesterdays newspaper, The New York Times, September 2, A, 1995;1:2. Warren H. Hit the bricks: urban entrepreneurs thieves, police say are shaking the foundation of Detroits vacant housing, Detroit News, April 6, A, 1989;1:2. Weeks LH. A History of Paper Manufacturing in the United States 1690 1916. New York: Burt Franklin, 1969a:218. Weeks L. A History of Paper Manufacturing in the United States, 1690 1916. New York: Burt Franklin, 1969b:5967. Weeks L. A History of Paper Manufacturing in the United States, 1690 1916. New York: Burt Franklin, 1969c:113. Young JE. The sudden new strength of recycling, Worldwatch, July/August, 1995, 24.