Waste Management Practices Have Always Been A Part Of Large Societies Throughout History

“Waste” is a short essay in which Wendell Berry critically analyzes the growing epidemic of trash that is polluting the nation’s land, waterways, and the air. Berry explains to the readers how the remnants of floods and litter that leave farmlands scattered with trash, makes more work for the farmers who have to rid their land of the trash before they can use it. Along with the floods, roads and highways also lead to a barrage of garbage from people who are too lazy or ignorant to take proper care of their garbage, which Berry claims leads to “. . . a constant precipitation of cans, bottles, the plastic-ware containers of fast food joints, soiled plastic diapers, and sometimes whole bags of garbage,” (Waste 1) along the edges of their fields. The garbage of the country continues to be a burden for everyone, whether it impacts them directly or not. Although it would be impossible to eliminate garbage completely from the country, the waste could be greatly reduced. Most of today’s trash is a consequence of the laziness of American society.

It is hard to imagine in the twenty first century the level of filth that was experienced in the 1830’s on a daily basis. Sanitation, public health and sewer systems were problems that gripped the nation throughout the ninetieth century (1830-1860s), encouraging popular debate and proposal of changes. The growth of population and increase in the industry

Imagine someone tossing a cigarette out of their window. That cigarette gets blown onto someone’s yard and is eaten by their pet. That pet could become seriously sick because of someone else's laziness. According to www.kab.org, over 51 billion pieces of litter land on U.S. roadways each year. That is just roadways. For that cleanup, America spends 11.5 billion dollars each year. 9.1 billion of those dollars are paid by businesses, with the other 2.4 billion being paid between schools, government, and other organizations. Another reason why if all this littering could be disposed of properly, America would have much more money put toward other important

In “Picking Up” Robin Nagle enthusiastically describes why New York City’s Department of Sanitation is so significant to our day to day city life. This department picks up about 11,000 tons of trash as well as 2,000 tons of recycling daily. If it was not for them the city would be completely unlivable. As the anthropologist-in-residence for New York City's Department of Sanitation, Robin Nagle explains with many explanations why The Department of Sanitation is so vital and why they are just as important as any police officer or fireman out there. If it was not for those men and woman who remove our trash and recyclables, our city would be completely over run with trash. Not only is this completely disgusting, but there are so many diseases

Municipal solid wastes are leftovers made by the population such as food, plastic bottles, household wares and many more. These items referred by most as “the garage” or “trash”. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2015) In the early 1900’s, incinerators were used to burn waste however by the Mid-20th century, lawmakers enacted the first government regulations in an attempt to address increasing concerns about the environmental impact of unregulated waste management practices. With the first waste management legislation being passed in 1965, brought along the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, thus bringing us into a new world of waste management.(Vault, n.d.)

Have you ever been in a dirty bathroom and thought about how dirty it was and how many germs were just floating around in the atmosphere? Or walking into a bathroom after someone else walks out and having to deal with the foul odor of their bodily fluids. Life wasn 't always this simple, at times things were a lot worse and many people weren 't sure how to cope with the situations. This problem is something many people had to deal with on daily basis and had to figure out to live a regular life with it. This is why cleanliness, public health, and technology was important problem that many people had to overcome during the 19th century until now.

In Chapter two Edward Humes writes about New York in the 1890’s. He shares with us how the people of this time period handled the trash condition. He explains how the trash was so severe that pigs could dispose of garbage for eating purposed. People were using them like a part of a solution to get rid of trash little by little by letting the pigs eat the trash but at the same time using them as meat providers. He also mentions the different methods that people throughout the years came up with to dispose of trash and failed as proper solutions. Some of these methods we still use today, like burning trash, burying trash, even building more landfills. However as Humes says about landfills they eventually get filled up. The thing that surprised

Let’s be honest here, we all litter when driving in our cars, how many of us rolls down our windows to dispose of a wrapper, cigarette, or something of that nature? We tend not to care about the effects our human footprint leaves on the earth. The tiniest things like littering eventually lead to bigger things and stuff like that needs to be brought into attention. Bob Johnson, a philosopher and artist set out to produce and promote “Artful Trash Management”. The leading proponent being his “River Cubes” are public display sculptures innovatively harvest waste, especially those in the river streams, and transform the resulting heap into vivid discussions to what we humans produce in waste and leave behind.

Sewage would only worsen the issues of the Victorian Era making it terribly inferior to many citizens of London. Hospitals were not the only problem because the disposal of waste might have been just as evenly bad. “How to dispose of the accumulated waste was a problem that preoccupied the minds of countless reformers, engineers, scientists, and amateur sanitarians, but the problem acquired a particular urgency because the retention of waste in the city was associated with disease and even death…” (Cleansing the City p. 9-10). Many places in London had terrible sewage issues and it became evident that the sewage was so bad because no one knew how to dispose of the waste. The waste was very dangerous and many people did not want to deal with it due to the many diseases and bad liabilities carried with it. The nineteenth century needed a sanitary reform right away because in many places like London were being taken over and run by sanitation issues. “Together the two passages reveal the heightened symbolism of filth in the period and, more specifically, the way filth embodied the challenges of the urban condition. Indeed, sanitary discourse became an important vehicle for expressing concerns about the disorder associated with the Victorian city” (Cleansing the City p. 14). The following two passages the author is referring to are from Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens, an influential writer of the Victorian Era. London was literally demanding change because the sanitary reform

As American towns industrialized all through the nineteenth century, irresistible ailments developed as a genuine danger. The presentation of new workers and the development of vast urban zones permitted already confined sicknesses to spread rapidly and contaminate bigger populations. Consider as industrialization occurred, towns developed into cities, and people relocated to them. The expanded interest for shoddy lodging by urban vagrants prompted ineffectively assembled homes that poorly accommodated individual cleanliness. Outside laborers in the nineteenth century frequently lived in cramped dwellings that consistently lacked fundamental comforts, for example, running water, ventilation, and toilets. These conditions were perfect for

In 1854 the city London was the most populated in the world. In just ninety square miles there was over two million currently living there. During this time period having so many people in such a tight place was unknown. With the constant population growth it caused a number of problems. The main problem that was faced was the mass amount of waste and where to put it. Families used water closets, but even with the water closets their waste was emptied into cesspools. It wasn’t uncommon for these cesspools to over fill often, even with night- soil men continuously emptying them. The streets of London were fifthly. With the constant mass amounts of waste the London government came to a decision to dump of the

The importance of hygiene was only recognized in the nineteenth century and until then it was common that the streets were filthy, with live animals of all sorts around and human fleas and ticks (Mohr,

The answer lies in the climate fostered in Victorian England. It was one of unparalleled progress due to exploding industrialization of cities with modern factories, production processes, and advanced engineering. This exciting era also brought momentous discoveries in Geology, Astronomy, and the sciences. Discoveries like electricity and vaccines made a huge difference in the citizen’s quality of life. However, even though there was much advancement, the unsafe sanitation

London, being the densest settlement on the planet with 2.5 million people into 30 square miles, was emerging as the most populated urban metropolitan in the mid 19th century. Although, London started enjoying the fruits, it was not prepared to face the challenges of the urbanization. It was lacking the infrastructure necessary to support dense civilization like the garbage disposal, clean water supply, sewers, public health care etc. In the absence of an efficient sewage system, people were dumping their human waste into the cesspools located in the basement of their houses. As a result of accumulation of human excreta up to a few feet in some instances, London had become incredibly offensive and foul smelling city to walk around. The

The average resident produces seven and a half pounds of garbage every day that is buried down in landfills and litters lands costing a great amount of money. Nowadays, people face no more critical trouble than the need to save the weakening environment, mainly in urban areas, where solid wastes are uselessly dumped. It has been observed that cities have no controlled structure for garbage disposal. Each year, millions of dollars are spent picking up litter and more is thrown away in valuable materials that could be recycled. As humanity develops new technology and equipment, the level of waste increases every day. Due to the fact that there is a huge problem with garbage disposal, government representatives must contribute to resolving