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During the 1970s and 1980s, in the name of environmental conservation and the effort to save energy in the wake of the oil crisis, “thermal recycling” and “energy recycling,” more commonly referred to as the “energy recovery” of household and urban waste, was invented in France. These oxymoronic expressions hide the fact that the waste is incinerated, thereby rendering linear the life cycles of the natural elements from which they are made. From an ideological point of view, the expressions green a technique that was previously recognized as destructive. By identifying the industrial stakeholders and institutions that have promoted this expanding integration of waste, city, and energy, this article aims to challenge a contemporary truism, namely the virtuous nature of using urban waste to produce energy.

During the 1970s and 1980s, in the name of environmental conservation and the effort to save energy in the wake of the oil crisis, “thermal recycling” and “energy recycling,” more commonly referred to as the “energy recovery” of household and urban waste, was invented in France. These oxymoronic expressions hide the fact that the waste is incinerated, thereby rendering linear the life cycles of the natural elements from which they are made. From an ideological point of view, the expressions green a technique that was previously recognized as destructive. By identifying the industrial stakeholders and institutions that have promoted this expanding integration of waste, city, and energy, this article aims to challenge a contemporary truism, namely the virtuous nature of using urban waste to produce energy.