Have you ever wondered how the human waste was managed before the plastic even existed?
Let’s consider the waste composition till the 20th century: according to what archaeologists mostly find during excavations, it contained food waste, used clothes made of cotton, linen, wool and leather; shoes made of wood and leather; broken pottery; animal bones or rests; broken furniture. All of this was usually thrown in landfills, pits, or channels throughout the city, or collected by a dedicated service. The accumulation of different types of waste generated stench and spread diseases or viruses throughout the circulation of rodents, posing risks to human health. Nevertheless, we have no evidence of a permanent impact on the environment.
Did you know that:
- The first attested mention of “making compost for agricultural use” dates back to the Akkadian empire, in the Middle East, back to 2350 BC. (Source)
- In ancient Greece, people living in cities were supposed to carry their garbage out of town to specific deposits.
- The Ancient Romans were the first to create the world’s earliest sewage system, the Cloaca Massima, it began as an open-air canal which drained the water and removed the waste from the city, then became a larger construction later in time. (Source). The Cloaca emptied into the Tiber River, thus polluting the drinking water used by the Romans. Aside from this system, another was paying collecting service that carried on chariots the garbage of houses not connected to the sewer out of town. (Source)
- In the middle age, there was no system, the population was rare and there was a lot of space where dispose the rubbish, out of towns or fortresses.
- In the late 17th century, in New Amsterdam (now New York) the first law was issued to punish littering: it was prohibited to throw or leave waste in the streets. (Source)
- In 1757 Benjamin Franklin organized a first cleaning service, encouraging people to dig pits to get rid of their waste. (Source)
- In the 19th century London introduced the first municipal waste collection system, “dustmen” were employed to remove the trash from homes and streets, bring it to a central depot and finally into a landfill. (Source)
- The first time an incinerator was used as a waste management method, was in 1874 in the UK, followed by the USA. (Source)