My relatives who lived during World War II insist that all the scrap-metal and rubber drives, supposedly done to preserve resources for the war effort, were only for propaganda. None of the metal and rubber collected was ever used for anything. Is this true? –Anthony Allen, Los Angeles
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In 1942, when the first scrap drives were organized, the war was far from won, and frightened civilians at all levels were anxious to do something, anything, to help. So campaigns were organized to collect not just metal and rubber but kitchen fat, newspapers, rags, and so on. These drives were extremely successful–millions of tons of material were collected. It was only afterward, contemplating the assembled mounds of junk, that those in charge of the war effort asked themselves: What are we going to do with all this crap?
Many of the other materials collected couldn’t readily be recycled either. Many people who lived through the war may remember collecting old newspapers, but apart from using them as packing material and such there was little to be done with them. A 1941 aluminum-scrap drive to help the plucky Brits pulled in 70,000 tons of aluminum pots and pans, but only virgin aluminum could be used to manufacture aircraft.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Slug Signorino.
