Kodak is experiencing a resurgence in the fashion landscape.
Recently, a compact camera-keychain inspired by a design from 1987 ran out of stock within a day. In several regions, Kodak’s small digital cameras have even surpassed sales of products from Canon and Sony. With such momentum, Kodak has launched a trendy streetwear line featuring a store in Seoul that captivates a younger audience with vivid designs and a nostalgic style. This progress is remarkable for a company established 133 years ago that filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and just last August dismissed rumors of a potential shutdown once more.
The Eastman Kodak Company was founded by inventor George Eastman in Rochester, New York, back in 1888. Over the next hundred years, the term Kodak—coined by Eastman—became almost synonymous with photography. This company democratized the art of photography with its affordable Brownie camera in 1900, and then transformed it again in 1935 with Kodachrome, one of the initial commercially viable color films. By the 1970s, Kodak had also invented the world’s first digital camera, and by decade’s end, they were raking in billions annually.
Nevertheless, throughout a significant part of the 20th century, Kodak operated largely as a contractor for the U.S. military. Together with its subsidiary Eastman Chemical, Kodak produced everything from lacquer for warplanes to components for gas masks, and even refined uranium for the Manhattan Project.
This history left a troubling environmental legacy, particularly in Rochester. In the mid-20th century, Kodak disposed of low-level radioactive waste in a local landfill. By 1990, the company had faced multiple citations for mishandling hazardous materials, including neglecting to report toxic spills, improperly discharging solvents into the municipal sewer system, and ignoring air pollution regulations. Residents in proximity to the factory began to report clusters of unusual diseases. In 1994, Kodak consented to an $8 million settlement to repair leaking sewers that had transported industrial waste beneath the city for years. An Environmental Working Group report revealed that in the early 1990s, Kodak released more known carcinogens into the water than any other New York polluter.
In her recent publication, Tales of Militant Chemistry, film historian Alice Lovejoy sheds light on this often-overlooked aspect of the film industry, highlighting both Kodak and its German counterpart, Agfa, which once modified its facility to manufacture poison gas for World War I. Agfa also left a mark of pollution on the towns surrounding its factories—this history even inspired a documentary, Bitterness in Bitterfeld, which Lovejoy notes was circulated discreetly among the clandestine environmental movement in East Germany.
Despite Kodak’s vows to reduce emissions and its investment of millions into environmental restoration—marked by regular Earth Day announcements detailing corporate sustainability efforts—much of its polluting legacy endures. When questioned about the historical context provided in Lovejoy’s book, Kodak shared its latest sustainability report but chose not to provide any additional comments.
“A company like Kodak, which we associate with pioneering photography, is intricately linked to altering the material world,” Lovejoy stated in an interview with Grist. This connection has deeply affected the environment and local communities. Yet for the general public, Kodak remains primarily a camera manufacturer. Lovejoy recounted an instance of a Kodak representative addressing those affected by a methylene chloride spill, stating, “We’ve never been viewed as a chemical company… we simply produced the yellow boxes.”
Although this may be the public perception, Lovejoy argues that it’s not the complete picture. “Internally, they viewed themselves as a chemical manufacturer,” she explained. For her, “the environment and military endeavors are intertwined.”
“This material’s history is rooted in poison gas production, atomic bomb creation, and all the elements that shaped the 20th century, which continues into the 21st century,” she asserted.
Notable corporations like DuPont, General Electric, and Exxon have similarly contributed to the pollution of surrounding land, water, and air, often while acting as contractors for agencies like the Department of Defense. Many have kept their environmental and social impacts (alongside military connections) concealed from public scrutiny until years later when remediation becomes unavoidable.
In recent times, some of these companies have shifted focus towards a circular economy, with Lovejoy noting Eastman Chemical, a Kodak subsidiary based in Tennessee. Today, its primary ventures involve plastics, and they have received federal decarbonization grants despite awareness that plastics recycling has limited efficacy. In July, former President Donald Trump granted Eastman Chemical a two-year exemption from an environmental regulation mandating the reporting of carcinogenic emissions. As for Kodak, it retains a fraction of its previous film production in Rochester, but at a significantly reduced scale.
Tales of Militant Chemistry illustrates how a company’s renowned products may represent merely a small facet of its broader social and environmental impact. This insight is applicable to today’s products like smartphones and solar panels, Lovejoy pointed out. “Is film still around? Yes, to some extent, but it’s not like it once was,” she remarked. “However, the environmental repercussions linger, and they will persist for a very long time.”
“This narrative isn’t solely about Kodak,” Lovejoy emphasized. It unfolds a broader tale of how high-impact, sometimes violent industries are frequently shrouded by effective public relations. Just as the uranium nitrite used in Kodak film depended on colonial mining in the Belgian Congo, contemporary batteries and solar panels likewise rely on extractive industries.
“We need a more honest understanding of the nature of these companies,” Lovejoy concluded. “For those of us who engage with a lot of media, it’s crucial to comprehend the expansive global networks that support our devices or the films and shows we enjoy streaming.”
