Hamblin, Jacob D., ed. Roundtable Review of Making a Green Machine: The Infrastructure of Beverage Container Recycling, by Finn Arne Jørgensen. H-Net Environment Roundtable Reviews 3, no.2 (2013). https://www.h-net.org/~environ/roundtables/env-roundtable-3-2.pdf.
Hundreds of billions of empty beverage containers are discarded worldwide every year. In Making a Green Machine, Finn Arne Jørgensen examines the development of the Scandinavian beverage container deposit-refund system, which has the highest return rates in the world, from 1970 to present. Jørgensen investigates the challenges the system faced when exported internationally and explores the critical role of technological infrastructures and consumer convenience in modern recycling. Using a comparative framework to chart complex business and political networks, Jørgensen shows how the reverse vending machine (RVM) has become a green machine to redeem the empty beverage container, helping both businesses and consumers participate in environmental actions.
(Text adapted from Rutgers University Press website.)
H-Environment’s Roundtable Book Reviews provide multiple perspectives on books and allow the authors the opportunity to respond. This unique dialogue can be a valuable insight into recent scholarship.
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