Rashid's Blog: A Place for Inquisitive Souls

Solid waste disposal one of the critical problems of cities.In ancient towns, wastes were thrown onto unpaved streets and roadways. It was not until 320 BCE in Athens that the first known law forbidding this practice was established. At that time a system for waste removal began to evolve in Greece and in the Greek-dominated cities of the eastern Mediterranean. In ancient Rome, property owners were responsible for cleaning the streets fronting their property. But organized waste collection was associated only with state-sponsored events such as parades. Disposal methods were very crude, involving open pits located just outside the city walls. As populations increased, efforts were made to transport waste farther out

After the fall of Roman Civilization, waste collection and municipal sanitation began a decline that lasted throughout the Middle Ages. Near the end of the 14th century, scavengers were given the task of carting waste to dumps outside city walls. But this was not the case in smaller towns, where most people still threw waste into the streets. It was not until 1714 that every city in England was required to have an official scavenger. Toward the end of the 18th century in America, municipal collection of garbage was begun in Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia. Waste disposal methods were still very crude, it was mostly dumped somewhere.

A technological approach to solid-waste management began to develop in the latter part of the 19th century. Watertight garbage cans were first introduced in the United States, and sturdier vehicles were used to collect and transport wastes. A significant development in solid-waste treatment and disposal practices was marked by the construction of the first refuse incinerator in England in 1874. Even then, however, most of the largest cities were still using primitive disposal methods such as open dumping on land or in water…..

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