It turns out that recycling isn’t new at all, even if it is new to us in its present incarnation. Whether done at home or as part of a larger, organized civic program, the far-reaching consequences of society overstepping its boundaries has always been of major importance. This is apparent when studying the refuse of a society. When these items disappear from use, unless there is evidence that they were found elsewhere, it usually means they were recycled.
there is written and physical evidence to suggest that precious metals and paper were very heavily recycled in Ancient Rome. This includes such metals as zinc, copper, bronze and brass, which were all recycled at one time or another. There are even records of scrap paper drives in Rome. In recent years, the actual facilities where paper recycling took place have been found along with some of the actual 2,000 year old scrap.
