Britain's supremacy in the nineteenth century depended in large part on its vast deposits of coal. This coal not only powered steam engines in factories, ships, and railway locomotives but also warmed homes and cooked food.

Waste into Weapons is the first in-depth history of twentieth-century recycling in Britain.

Going as far back as the thirteenth century, Britons mined and burned coal. Britain's supremacy in the nineteenth century depended in large part on its vast deposits of coal, which powered industry, warmed homes, and cooked food.