Throughout World War II the American public was exhorted to engage in the collection of various commodities, ranging from paper to tin, iron, steel, rubber, and cooking fat. Even silk stockings were subject to the government emphasis on recycling scarce materials for the war effort. Scrap metal became the most visible collection effort, given its direct application to military manufacturing. In 1942, the War Production Board declared a shortage of scrap
Poster promoting commuting and working together as part of the war effort. Poster by Harry Russell Ballinger (Library of Congress)
Metal and urgently sought donations from the civilian sector. The changing nature of warfare had greatly increased the army’s need for metal of all kinds. In World War I it is estimated that an American soldier needed 90 pounds of scrap metal to support him in the field, but by World War II a GI required nearly 5,000 pounds. Consequently, the call went out for the collection of old roller skates, radiators, rusted barrels, razor blades, and other objects that could be melted down and recast into tanks, ships, and warplanes. As a result, the use of scrap metal in steel production rose by one-third between 1941 and 1945. Similar efforts were made for tin and aluminum, which were largely imported from abroad and whose supply was now endangered by U-boats. Copper pennies were also taken out of circulation and replaced by zinc so that copper could be used in the manufacture of brass shell casings. Tin was obtained by requiring consumers to exchange old tubes of toothpaste or shaving cream cans in order to purchase new ones.
Less known but equally important to the war effort was rubber, used in the manufacture of tires and motor parts, among other things. Japanese advances in Southeast Asia captured 90 percent of the world’s sources for raw rubber, and the United States initially lacked meaningful capacity to manufacture synthetics. Until this capacity had been gained, the government both cut back domestic consumption in the form of rationing automobile tires and increasing the recycling of rubber scrap. The program was kicked off on June 15, 1942, by one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats and brought in tons of old tires, hot water bottles, rubber bands, and children’s toys, resulting in an impressive 400,000 tons by the time the drive ended on July 10. This cache was then bought for a penny a pound from filling stations and $25 a ton from oil companies by the Rubber Reserve Corporation. Scholars continue to debate the significance of the amount collected, which in 1943 was only 2 percent higher than the peacetime consumption rate in 1947, but it undoubtedly helped ease the shortage until the production of synthetic rubber reached maximum capacity in 1944.
Scrap drives made an important contribution to the war effort, but they were probably more important for promoting patriotism and community support for the war than producing badly needed materials to wage it. Nonetheless, they remain a celebrated and even cherished part of home front folklore associated with World War II and symbolic of the national unity it engendered.
Further reading: Richard R. Lingeman, Don’t You Know There’s a ’War On: The American Home Front, 1941-1945 (New York: Putnam, 1970); Carl A. Zimring, Cash for Your Trash: Scrap Recycling in America (New Brunswick, N. J.: Rutgers University Press, 2005).
—John C. Fredriksen
World History
