Solid Waste & Recycling

1654

New Amsterdam made it illegal to throw waste into the street

The colonial settlement that became New York City prohibited the dumping of refuse in public streets. It marks one of the earliest North American regulatory interventions in solid waste handling, predating organised collection services.

mid-1700s

Benjamin Franklin started the first American waste collection and street-cleaning service in Philadelphia

Franklin wrote and distributed papers explaining the benefits of clean streets and persuaded residents to pay a small fee for regular cleaning. The scheme led to the paving and cleaning of Philadelphia's streets and established the model of fee-funded municipal collection.

1751

Corbyn Morris proposed putting London's cleaning under one uniform public management

Morris argued in London that preserving public health required centralised municipal responsibility for street cleaning and the conveyance of filth out of the city by the Thames. The proposal was an early call for municipal authority with waste removal powers, though legislation would not follow for a century.

1762

Pennsylvania legislators passed a 1762 law regulating street maintenance in Philadelphia

Franklin's advocacy for clean streets contributed to the passage of legislation governing street maintenance. It gave statutory backing to what had begun as a voluntary, fee-funded cleaning arrangement.

1842

Edwin Chadwick published The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population

The social reformer argued that adequate waste removal and management facilities were essential to the health and wellbeing of urban populations. The report, written amid devastating cholera outbreaks, was highly influential in shifting the public health debate towards sanitation infrastructure.

1846

United Kingdom Parliament passed the Nuisance Removal and Disease Prevention Act

The Act began a steadily evolving process of providing regulated waste management in London. It was the first legislation on the issue after decades of deteriorating urban sanitation during industrialisation.

19th century

Ashanti Empire operated a Public Works Department responsible for sanitation in Kumasi

By the 19th century the Ashanti Empire maintained a Public Works Department charged with sanitation in Kumasi and its suburbs. Streets were cleaned daily and civilians were ordered to keep their compounds clean and weeded. It is an early example of organised municipal waste and sanitation administration outside Europe.

1874

Manlove, Alliott & Co. Ltd. built the first incinerator at Nottingham to Alfred Fryer's design

The dramatic increase in waste for disposal led to the creation of the first incineration plants, then called destructors. The Nottingham plant pioneered thermal waste treatment, though such plants met opposition because of the large amounts of ash wafting over neighbouring areas.

1875

United Kingdom Parliament passed the Public Health Act requiring waste in moveable receptacles

The Public Health Act 1875 made it compulsory for every household to deposit weekly waste in moveable receptacles for disposal. This created the first concept of the dustbin and the basis for routine municipal household collection.

1880s

Chicago city government hired 225 street teams gathering over 2,000 cubic yards of refuse daily

By the late 1880s Chicago had scaled up municipal refuse gathering to large organised teams. It illustrates the growth of city-run collection capacity during the bacteriological revolution in American sanitation.

2024

UNEP and the International Solid Waste Association published the Global Waste Management Outlook 2024

The jointly published report updated the trajectory of global waste generation and the escalating costs of waste management since 2018. It projected municipal solid waste rising from 2.3 billion tonnes in 2023 to 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050, and set out costs under business-as-usual, improved management and circular economy scenarios.

July 2017

Chinese government announced an import ban on 24 categories of recyclables and solid waste

The ban covered plastic, textiles and mixed paper among other materials. It had a tremendous impact on developed countries that had been exporting recyclable waste directly or indirectly to China, forcing a restructuring of global recycling markets.

2014–2020

Hungary adopted its first waste prevention programme in the 2014–2020 national waste management plan

Hungary's national waste management plan for 2014-2020 contained the country's first waste prevention programme. The successor programme for 2021-2027 is financed by European Union and international grants, domestic co-financing, product charges and landfill taxes.

2009

San Francisco began reforming waste policy towards a zero waste target

The city started changing its waste management policies in 2009 with the expectation of reaching zero waste. Its Mandatory Recycling and Composting Ordinance required everyone in the city to keep recyclables and compostables out of landfill.

1962

Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, warning of pesticide damage

Carson reached a huge popular audience with her warning that pesticides, especially DDT, were greatly damaging the environment. The book helped broaden sanitation concerns beyond biological pollutants to industrial and chemical contaminants, driving waves of federal intervention including the Environmental Protection Agency.

1960s

United States federal government broadened waste concerns to industrial and chemical contaminants

Growing environmental awareness since the 1960s extended sanitation policy beyond biological pollutants to chemical and industrial waste. Public opinion forced successive national interventions, including the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

early 20th century

Large cities of Europe and North America established municipal waste disposal systems

Following British precedents, similar municipal systems of waste disposal sprang up at the turn of the 20th century across large European and North American cities. This generalised regulated collection and disposal as a standard urban function.

1938

Garwood produced the Load Packer, the first truck to incorporate a hydraulic compactor

The Garwood Load Packer introduced hydraulic compaction to refuse collection vehicles. Compaction sharply raised the payload per trip and became standard in municipal collection fleets.

1920s

British manufacturers introduced the first closed-body refuse trucks with a dumping lever mechanism

Early garbage removal vehicles were open-bodied horse-drawn dump carts, motorised in the early 20th century. Closed bodies eliminated odours, and hopper mechanisms soon allowed loading at floor level before mechanical hoisting into the truck.

1895

New York City became the first American city with public-sector garbage management

New York municipalised refuse management, replacing reliance on private scavengers and piggeries. The move set the template for publicly operated solid waste services in American cities.