Recycling waste byproducts and restructuring in the UK animal feed industry, 1859–1914: Exploring the historical emergence of the circular economy

There have been several calls among circular economy (CE) scholars for a greater understanding of its historical origins. CE thinking first emerged in Britain in the late 1850s and 1860s associated with the emerging animal feeds sector. Despite large literatures on the history of the beef and dairying sectors, animal feeds remain under-researched in business history. The invention of compound animal feed in 1859 enabled the unwanted byproducts from many parts of the human food supply chain to be reused as animal feed. This was sufficiently important that several large producers of human foods diversified into animal feeds solely to valorize their waste byproducts. We explore the role of Victorian values and theological motivations for waste valorization and the general importance of perishability to the retention of value in residuals to explain why investment in technological innovation to promote recycling became so significant to the animal feeds sector.