I’ve been reading up on World War II scrap drive efforts in the United States, and am wondering if these (mostly) community-based efforts actually contributed enough raw materials to the war effort for them to actually be viable?

Meaning, I am assuming that these drives brought communities together and provided a sense of “I am doing something!” for the war effort, **but if—all things being equal—no recycling happened past the usual efforts a community has, would the war effort have been stymied as a result? If a neighborhood didn’t collectively scrap their iron fences, would a tank truly have not been built as a result?** 

I have come across articles like these—for example—online that seem to be stating similar claims; article title linked with quote below:

* [**Scrap Metal and Rubber Drives** (University of Wisconsin System School Library Education Consortium)][1]
> “On the home front, sacrifice was a common theme throughout the years of the war. Scrap metal drives were conducted throughout the US to gather materials to build tanks, ships, planes and weapons.”

* [**Scrap for Victory! (Library of Congress Blogs)**][2]
> “During World War II scrap drives were a popular way for everyone to contribute to the war effort. By recycling unused or unwanted metal for example, the government could build ships, airplanes and other equipment needed to fight the war.”

* [**Make It Do – Scrap Drives in World War II** (Author Sarah Sundin’s Website)][3]
> “Scrap drives were a vital part of the American war effort.”

All of these pieces talk about the scrap drives matter-of-factly as being a “thing” but none really address whether or not these efforts were simply “team building” exercises at best? They all seem to implicitly agree that scrap drive efforts were necessary.

That said, I did stumble upon [this Mashable piece (“1942: Scrap metal drives”)][4] that is mainly a pile of pictures but also includes this claim—that I tend to agree with—but doesn’t provide citations or context for the claim:

> “Ultimately, the effect of these scrap metal drives on actual war production was marginal at best. Their true value was in galvanizing citizen morale and a sense of patriotic unity, and making everyone feel a part of the war effort.”

So are there any citable (and hopefully fact and statistic backed) sources out there that focus on the idea that these scrap drives were more of a morale boosting effort than a truly necessary act of sacrifice for a war effort?

Including a cool pic (below) of a dog and two kids collecting scrap items (presumably) around Boston just for the hell of it.

[![Photo credited as Leslie Jones/Boston Public Library][5]][5]


  [1]: https://uwsslec.libguides.com/c.php?g=416691&p=2839329
  [2]: https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2015/01/scrap-for-victory/
  [3]: http://www.sarahsundin.com/make-it-do-scrap-drives-in-world-war-ii-2/
  [4]: https://mashable.com/2016/02/03/wwii-scrap-metal/#ZL6HdnD_.qq4
  [5]: https://i.sstatic.net/ZUCio.jpg