The History of Waste Management

Waste Management and Sustainability

In this course, Professor Ian Williams (University of Southampton) explores waste management systems, with a particular focus on environmental sustainability. In this first module, we look at the historical development of various waste management systems across the world, thinking especially about the conditions under which different approaches are adopted. The second module considers the waste hierarchy, which ranks different approaches based on their environmental sustainability, and the third surveys disposal methods at the bottom of the hierarchy – landfill, ocean dumping, and incineration. In the fourth module, we move up to the middle of the hierarchy, examining composting and anaerobic digestion as preferred methods for dealing with organic waste as they recover value from the disposal process. We then turn in the fifth module to recycling, emphasising particularly what makes a recycling system effective, and conclude with a sixth module on the most environmentally sustainable approaches and the concept of the circular economy.

The History of Waste Management

In this module, we think about the historical development of waste management systems, focusing on: (i) the emergence of waste as a health problem in the 18th century as a result of industrialisation, population growth, and urbanisation; (ii) the gradual development of council-operated waste collection and disposal in London and other UK cities up to the early 20th century; (iv) other systems across the world, for example in the US and Japan, and the role of factors such as land availability in the strategies different countries adopt; (v) the relationship between economic development, urbanisation, and the adoption by countries of different waste management approaches.