History of Waste Disposal
- Prior to the industrial revolution, most waste was recycled or burnt. Vegetable waste could be used as compost and food waste fed to animals.
- By the late 19th century, ash, dust and cinders from coal fires were the major component of household waste, and led to centralised municipal waste collection from household dustbins.
- Small-scale commercial recycling was in the hands of scrap-metal collectors or rag and bone men whose horse-drawn carts still toured neighbourhoods until the 1960s.
- The 1956 Clean Air Act led to a shift away from open coal fires and towards oil and gas-fired central heating. This eliminated ash as a major component of household waste but increasing the amounts of waste such as paper that would otherwise have been burned.
