Future of the Environment

Findings show that recycling has been with us since the Bronze Age

Bags filled with caps are pictured at the Association Bouchon d'Amour which collects and recycles plastic caps in Martignas-Sur-Jalles near Bordeaux, France, November 23, 2018. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau - RC17D4709770

Our ancestors were no ecological saints. Image: REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

Maikel Kuijpers
Assistant Professor, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Future of the Environment

Monte Testaccio, Rome.
Image: Diego Fiore/Shutterstock.com
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Metallurgy was a hot business during the Bronze Age, but most of the metal was recycled.
Image: © Maikel Kuijpers, Author provided
Axes may have been the shape in which metal was traded before being recycled into something else. These ten were found in a spring near Hoogeloon in the Netherlands.
Image: © Restaura
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Future of the EnvironmentSustainable DevelopmentInnovation
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