Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Shell Containers from Waste Paper: Put Out More Waste Paper, It Will Save More Shipping, 1939 UK poster: Three cardboard

Shell Containers from Waste Paper: Put Out More Waste Paper, It Will Save More Shipping

Three cardboard shell containers strapped together sit above a blue panel of discarded books and papers. The text gives a figure (two ounces a week from every adult, 100,000 tons a year) and links household paper to saved shipping; the picture ties paper to munitions.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Transfer
Date
1939
Period
Second World War
Made by
British government via His Majesty's Stationery Office; printed by Fosh & Cross Ltd., London
Region
Western and Central Europe
Country
United Kingdom
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
State
Regime
Churchill Government
Leader
Winston Churchill
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Mobilize or secure compliance
Themes
Home front, Economy and finance, War and the military
Event
World War II
Regime
Churchill wartime government
Leader
Winston Churchill
Source
Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights
Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
British government via His Majesty's Stationery Office, c. 1939-1945. US National Archives (NARA, WWII Foreign Posters, NAID 44266953).

Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

Shell containers from waste paper
ONLY TWO OUNCES EACH WEEK FROM EVERY ADULT WOULD
PROVIDE 100,000 TONS PER YEAR. EVERY OUNCE COUNTS, SO
PUT OUT MORE WASTE PAPER
IT WILL SAVE MORE SHIPPING
[small print:] Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Fosh & Cross Ltd., London. 51-3519

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