Vol. 8 No. 1 (2025)
Research

Conflicting Interests: The Early Development of Makulatura Collection in Soviet Ukraine

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  • Tetiana Perga
Tetiana Perga
State Institution ‘Institute of World History of National Academy of Science of Ukraine’
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3197/whpww.63857928646677

Published 2025-06-30

Keywords

  • wastepaper,
  • waste recycling,
  • Makulatura,
  • Archives,
  • Housing Cooperatives,
  • Administrative Resource,
  • Directive Planning,
  • Ukrainian SSR,
  • Black Market
    • ...More
    Less

How to Cite

Perga, T. (2025). Conflicting Interests: The Early Development of Makulatura Collection in Soviet Ukraine. Worldwide Waste, 8(1), Art. 3. https://doi.org/10.3197/whpww.63857928646677

Copyright (c) 2025 Tetiana Perga

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The article analyses the early stages of wastepaper collection in the Ukrainian SSR during the 1920s and early 1930s, with a focus on the key actors and their conflicting interests. The significance of makulatura is considered in the context of its economic, political and ideological importance in the early Soviet Union. Special attention is given to mass mobilisation campaigns and wastepaper collection in housing cooperatives. The desperate struggle of archival institutions to preserve their documentary heritage is highlighted. The article also reveals the role of administrative resources as a tool of directive planning, used to lobby the interests of specific companies. It demonstrates how the organisational flaws in the state wastepaper collection system contributed to the development of the black market, where wastepaper flows were redirected through unofficial channels. The article argues that speculators were the only ones to make substantial economic profits, while the state primarily derived political and ideological benefits.

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