The Other Container Revolution: How Materials and Businesses Influenced Environmental Politics and Thus the Recycling of Beverage Containers

This paper traces a complex set of business reactions to environmentalism and show the importance of materials and infrastructures. Through a study of a debate 1970 to 2002 over a Danish ban on beverage cans the paper demonstrates the complexities of environmental politics and the many actors – human and non-human – that shape our everyday wasting practices. The focal point is ‘The Can War’, a conflict between Denmark and the EEC/EU over free trade contra environmental protection. The war involved among others Danish brewers with different and changing interests, foreign brewers arguing the ban was an illegal trade barrier, the packaging industry, and retailers responsible for managing container returns. By a dual examination of business motivations and materiality, the paper adds a new materiality perspective to the environmental politics literature focused on the role of business, thereby bridging two academic conversations and demonstrating the usefulness of new materialism for business history.