Waste management isn’t new. Many of the principles of modern waste management have a precedent in earlier societies that had similar waste management needs to our own. The first city-wide waste management system was introduced in London in the late 18th century and drastically improved during the Victorian era. Here are some of their innovations.
Rag-and-Bone Men
Rag-and-Bone men were the original recyclers. They went from house to house, usually on foot – only the wealthier ‘totters’ could afford the horse-and-cart with which we associate their trade today – collecting the unwanted detritus of 19th century living. They would collect anything with a resale value. Scrap metal could be melted down and reformed. Rags could be sold to paper mills for use in the making of certain types of paper. Bones were used in fertilisers and soaps.
Dust Yards
By far the largest component of waste in Victorian times was dust from the ashes of domestic fires. Before the introduction of piped gas and later electricity, all cooking and heating was done on a wood or coal fire leaving a huge amount of dust. The collection and disposal of this dust was the job of the dustmen – a word that is still in use for refuse collectors today despite the massive decline of ashes as a percentage of total waste. The dustmen took the collected dust to dust yards where it was ‘cleaned’ and sold on to brick manufacturers.
Incineration
Incinerators (or as they were known: ‘destructors’) were a divisive introduction. People that lived nowhere near them thought this was a great solution to the problem of waste management. Those in the vicinity of the burners whose homes were getting showered in ash and dust were understandably less keen on the idea.
Over the Channel
In France, a bin is still known as ‘un poubelle’. But Eugéne Poubelle was not its inventor. He was Prefect of the Seine region who made the use of dustbins compulsory in 1884. In a system that prefigures our modern recycling collection, Poubelle ordered that all owners of buildings must provide their residents with three dustbins: one for compost, one for rags and paper and one for shells (this was Paris so, presumably, they got through a lot of snails).
Skips didn’t come along until the following century. You can read about the invention of the skip in an older post. If you would like to hire a skip, call our office on 01493 668118 or you can email us on info@wtskiphire.co.uk.
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