The Circulus in the Twentieth Century: Resurgences and Metamorphoses of the Ideal of Agricultural Recycling of Excreta at the Birth of the Great Acceleration (France, 1930s-1980s)
From its initial formulation as ‘circulus’ in the mid-19th century to the urine and faecal matter recycling projects that emerged at the beginning of the 21st century to address the crossing of planetary boundaries and its local consequences, the concept of agricultural recycling of excreta has spanned the 20th century. While the 20th century saw an exacerbation of the urban-rural rift, and the gradual end of traditional recycling practices in particular, criticism of these trends and their socio-environmental effects continued to rise in step with the crises generated by industrial growth. Although it lost its name, the Circulus utopia was reformulated many times in the century of the Great Acceleration. We find echoes of it among the promoters of biodynamic agriculture in the 1930s and 1940s, among certain socialist planners in the post-World War II era and in the ecologist and anarchist movements of the 1970s. By tracing the evolution of this ideal, this article sketches its history and attempts to bridge the gap between past and present excreta recycling utopias.