Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 7
History of Waste Management
and the Social and Cultural
Representations of Waste
Sabine Barles
Abstract The history of waste mirrors that of the societies that produced it, and
their relationship with the environment and the resources they mobilized. Until the
industrial revolution, the management of urban excreta was predominantly linked
with urban salubrity, from the Roman cloaca maxima to the Parisian motta
papellardorum. The quantity of waste produced remained small and the methods
for collection and discharge often unsatisfactory, which led to frequent denuncia-
tions of urban dirtiness. Neo-Hippocratic medicine, which considered the tainted
environment and air to be the principal causes of urban excess mortality, prompted
the implementation of new policies and management techniques in Europe to clean
up the cities. In addition, the value of most urban excreta intended either for
agriculture or industry increased. Thus, from about the 1770s to the 1860s, salubrity
and excreta recovery went hand in hand. From the 1870s onward, the fertilizer
revolution, the rapid development of coal and, later, that of the petroleum industry
and the search for more convenient and plentiful materials, undermined the recy-
cling industry. Although some cities at rst tried to ght the devaluation of urban
by-products, they gave up during the interwar years. What was once a source of
pro
t became a cost to society, and, until the 1960s, the aim of waste management
was to reduce this cost. The environment became the receptacle for waste. The
1960s and 1970s were marked by an environmental crisis, a growing concern for
the limits of the planet and a criticism of the industrial city. In this context, waste
was regarded as the symbol of the aberrations of a consumer society. The pro-
duction of waste continued to grow and the sanitary accidents as a result left a deep
impression. Waste policies were implemented with mixed results. Developing
countries also began to suffer from this curse of developed countries.
