ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the technical and trade literature on industrial waste treatment from 1900 through the 1960s in an attempt to identify other factors which encouraged waste minimization in the past. It discusses the efforts taken to reduce waste streams and recount the difficulties encountered in making programs successful. The earliest efforts to recover waste products were driven by cost-cutting motives rather than any concern for the environment. The Siemens Open Hearth furnace, developed in 1857, recovered waste heat and reused it to pre-heat air, thus saving on fuel costs. Although there was no distinct break between the waste utilization period before 1900 and after, there were a number of factors which became increasingly important in fostering the development of by-products. The type of companies most commonly involved in the managerial revolution greatly affected the rapid expansion of waste production and concern for waste reduction.
