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This article provides a synthetic historical overview of the genealogy of wasteful practices prior to the debates of the 1970s. The remains become less and less interesting as the purchasing power of the populations increases, and as the products manufactured become composite, i.e. difficult to reuse for other uses without complex transformation. While objects were generally manufactured to meet specific and localized needs, their industrial production for an increasingly global market contributes to accentuating waste, to the point of making it a fundamental element in the dynamics of capitalism. The aim is therefore to explore some aspects of the recycling issue as it emerged after the metabolic disruption of the second 19th century, when urban growth and consumption combined to increase waste and wasteful practices.