Structuring elements of the recycling industry

limits and contradictions of waste reuse in capitalist society

Abstract

The present work addresses some structuring elements of the recycling industry with the purpose of substantiating the criticism of the supposed capacity to promote the so-called sustainable development, as well as the socio-productive inclusion of collectors of recyclable materials, conferred on this industrial sector. Therefore, this analysis is primarily based on the work of Karl Marx, more specifically on books I and III of Capital. The issues addressed here are presented from three axes, they are: the approach to recyclable material as a commodity proper to the capitalist mode of production; the recycling industry as a technological device; and, finally, the interrelation between the production of raw materials by different productive sectors.