One man's waste is another man's business

The early scrap business as a predecessor to the later circular economy

Authors

• Kati Toivanen Helsingin yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33355/tw.136159

Keywords:

circular economy, recycling, scrap dealers, waste, business history

Abstract

A form of “green entrepreneurship” was born and developed in Finland during the first decades of the 20^th century but not intentionally and not on ecological principles. As the melting technology in iron and steel industry developed considerably in the earlier decades, it slowly created demand for and supply of more raw material.  Gradually, scrap became the most important and valuable waste raw material. A huge leap in technology, changes in national legislation concerning freedom of occupation, and the growing waste problem created a new group of professionals. Many new entrepreneurs came from marginalized ethnic, social, or religious groups with few options. This paper examines the birth of Finnish scrap business as a systematic profession to collect and sort scrap iron and metals and to deliver them to the iron and steel industry and engineering works, from around 1900 until 1930. The focus is on two themes: the demand for, and the size of the new profession, and the status and background of the entrepreneurs. Who were they? How did they succeed? How did scrap materials circulate?