Urban recycling and the search for sustainable community development / Adam S. Weinberg, David N. Pellow, and Allan Schnaiberg.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weinberg, Adam S.

Contributor:

Pellow, David N., 1969-

Schnaiberg, Allan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Community development.

Recycling (Waste, etc.).

Sustainable development.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (236 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

More Americans recycle than vote. And most do so to improve their communities and the environment. But do recycling programs advance social, economic, and environmental goals? To answer this, three sociologists with expertise in urban and environmental planning have conducted the first major study of urban recycling. They compare four types of programs in the Chicago metropolitan area: a community-based drop-off center, a municipal curbside program, a recycling industrial park, and a linkage program. Their conclusion, admirably elaborated, is that recycling can realize sustainable community development, but that current programs achieve few benefits for the communities in which they are located. The authors discover that the history of recycling mirrors many other urban reforms. What began in the 1960's as a sustainable community enterprise has become a commodity-based, profit-driven industry. Large private firms, using public dollars, have chased out smaller nonprofit and family-owned efforts. Perhaps most troubling is that this process was not born of economic necessity. Rather, as the authors show, socially oriented programs are actually more viable than profit-focused systems. This finding raises unsettling questions about the prospects for any sort of sustainable local development in the globalizing economy. Based on a decade of research, this is the first book to fully explore the range of impacts that recycling generates in our communities. It presents recycling as a tant alizing case study of the promises and pitfalls of community development. It also serves as a rich account of how the state and private interests linked to the global economy alter the terrain of local neighborhoods.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

One: Urban Recycling: An Empirical Test of Sustainable Community Development Proposals

Two: The Challenge to Achieve Sustainable Community Development: A Theoretical Framework

Three: Chicago's Municipally Based Recycling Program: Origins and Outcomes of a Corporate-Centered Approach

Four: Community-Based Recycling: The Struggles of a Social Movement

Five: Industrial Recycling Zones and Parks: Creating Alternative Recycling Models

Six: Social Linkage Programs: Recycling Practices in Evanston

Seven: The Treadmill of Production: Toward a Political-Economic Grounding of Sustainable Community Development

Eight: The Search for Sustainable Community Development: Final Notes and Thoughts

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [203]-215) and index.

ISBN:

1-4008-1859-1

1-4008-0840-5

1-282-76716-X

9786612767166

1-4008-2389-7

1-4008-1378-6

OCLC:

700688258