It’s hard to imagine life without the humble dustbin. While it might be a weekly chore to take it out every week, or to even remember which bin to put out for collection, the disposal of rubbish is part of our everyday lives. But the weekly collection is just the start of the journey for our domestic waste.
Our relationship with waste is examined by Dr Henry Irving (Leeds Beckett University) in Reducing Waste, the third chapter of “Was the Past More Sustainable?”. This chapter explores the history of waste and its environmental impacts over the past two and a half centuries.
Centralised waste management developed in response to public health and environmental concerns that took different forms across the 19th and 20th centuries. The 1848 Public Health Act was a direct response by the government to the spread of disease caused by a combination of rubbish and sewage. The act gave local authorities the power to pass byelaws to remove dust, ashes, rubbish, filth, manure, dung and soil from private property.
“The dustbin emerged as the method of choice for household waste disposal. Beginning with improvised containers, the metal dustbin was adopted as a national standard and written into the 1936 Public Health Act. The dustbin went hand in hand with the expansion of waste collection. By the 1930s, around 10 million British homes, some 85 per cent of the total, had their waste collected on a regular basis.”
Modern waste collection keeps our streets looking clean and tidy, but waste continues to pose public health and environmental concerns. The recent bin strikes in Birmingham show how quickly waste can become a risk and highlight just how much waste we create. A staggering 25.7 million tonnes of waste is produced by households each year and its treatment officially makes up around 5 percent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Change Committee has also warned that waste will account for an increasing share of emissions by 2050 without policy action.
Whilst the chapter describes a general trend towards increased wastefulness as living standards have risen - we have more to throw away than previous generations - it also highlights how our attitudes to waste, reuse and recycling have changed over time, often for the better. There are opportunities for a less wasteful future that will unlock growth and create skilled jobs in repair and remanufacturing. History also shows the importance of public, private and third sector stakeholders working together to unlock the benefits of better waste management
Reducing Waste examines all of this and more. “The evidence shows that we have the potential to be more sustainable than past generations. With a better understanding of history, we can see the opportunities and challenges ahead.”
Was the Past More Sustainable?
Across a series of instalments, Was the Past More Sustainable? explores whether key aspects of our daily lives have become more or less damaging to the environment over time. The project presents analysis of how home heating, air quality, the disposal of waste and the way we move around have evolved over time, delving back hundreds of years in some cases. Through this research, the team combines analysis of historic datasets and archival findings with original empirical insights to build a rich, multifaceted debate, centred around the question: was the past more sustainable?
