Recycling is one of the pillars of waste management in Europe today — but it is not a recent invention. The word dates back to the 1920s, and its use spread with the first environmental policies of the 1970s. In fact recycling is an ancient practice, a normal part of everyday life for centuries, before the concept of ‘disposability’ began to dictate the way we produce and consume.

How can we take a critical look at recycling, crossing historical and anthropological viewpoints and adopting a European perspective?

As part of its exhibition and project Throwaway – The history of a modern crisis, the House of European History has invited Esra Tat, executive director of Zero Waste Europe, Heike Weber, historian, and Baptiste Monsaingeon, sociologist, to debate this topic with Christine Dupont, lead curator of the exhibition and project

Our contemporary societies are trying to control the flow of waste that has become largely unmanageable, by transforming it into resources. What is at the root of these past and present transformation processes? How far can recycling be seen as a way to avoid questioning our development models?

The round-table event and Q&A session takes place in the auditorium of the museum and will also be broadcast live on our YouTube channel.

Image credit: Women sorting shell cases for salvage, Photograph (reproduction), United Kingdom, 1918