Recycling & Repurposing in WWII

Last weekend, I happened to see a short documentary about cartoonists from an era when there was no digital animation. Delightful characters were created with pen and ink. These winsome creations brought laughter and a brief respite from whatever else might have been going on in people’s lives. Comics were delivered daily in newspapers to millions of homes throughout the US.

At one point, the screen cut to an image of the “funny papers.” Right there, between two comic strips, was a short public service announcement:

“America needs waste paper for soldiers’ food containers”

What an odd thing to have in the comics! And, what did it mean? It turns out that in the 1940s, food was distributed in basically three kinds of packaging: tin cans, glass bottles, and paper.

The Importance of Paper

Tin cans and glass bottles I can imagine, but everything else in paper? I can hardly wrap my head around the thought of entire nations running efficiently on pen and paper—or of so much food being packaged in paper. Can you imagine the entire Armed Forces getting their meal rations, often by international shipment, in paper?

In that pre-digital age, information was stored on paper. Records were kept in manila folders. Salaries were paid by check. Appointments were scribbled in notebooks. Corporate communications circulated by typewritten memo. And food and supplies were packed in paper containers. When World War II began and lumberjacks were drafted, and transporting wood pulp became a serious issue thanks to gasoline shortages, paper became scarce.

War Production Board

Around the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt set up the War Production Board to help with this kind of problem. The WPB was in charge of converting factories from peacetime products such as silk ribbons and stationery to wartime essentials like parachutes and paper cups. It also helped gather and conserve scarce materials like metal and rubber—and paper.

The WPB depended on community efforts to get supplies. There were scrap drives for various things, including paper. With the severe gasoline restrictions, the amount of scrap paper needed would probably not have been gathered if not for a very special group of citizens: School children.

Papertroopers and Scrap Drives

Throughout the country, school groups, boy scouts and girl scouts pulled wagons and went from door to door collecting waste paper, books, magazines and newspapers. They collected millions of pounds. They became known as Papertroopers.

Without the contributions of these children, it would have been difficult to make many things including food containers, ammunition boxes, maps, bombs carriers and the millions of paper cups that were used to help avoid disease outbreaks.

Yes, soldiers’ meals, bombs, ammunition and even blood plasma were all stored in paper.

It is fascinating to realize how much the world depended on paper. And, how safely children could walk through communities to gather it. Apparently, the funny papers became part of the war effort. We have an abundance of paper and packaging now—likely more than any other generation. We have so much to be thankful for. As a lifelong bookworm and writer, I have always appreciated paper. And now, a bit more.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

Psalm 36:7