Page 51 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

CAT3525_C02.qxd 1/27/2005 10:58 AM Page 22
22 Waste Management Practices: Municipal, Hazardous, and Industrial
covered periodically with layers of soil, into large pits, thus operating the first proto-sanitary land-
fills (Priestley, 1968; Wilson, 1977). By 2100 B.C.E., cities on the island of Crete had trunk sewers
connecting homes to carry away many wastes (Melosi, 1981; Vesilind et al., 2002). In the Egyptian
city of Heracleopolis (founded about 2100 B.C.E.), the wastes in the “non-elite” section were ignored,
while in the elite and religious sections efforts were made to collect and dispose of all wastes, which
usually ended up in the Nile River (Melosi, 1981). At Kouloure in the ancient Crete capital of
Knossos (ca. 1500 B.C.E.), an effective composting effort was established in pits (Kelly, 1973). By
800 B.C.E., old Jerusalem established sewers and had installed a primitive water supply. In the Indus
valley, the city of Mohenjo-daro had houses equipped with waste chutes and trash bins, and may
have had waste collection systems (Melosi, 1981). Harappa, in the Punjab region, now a part of
modern-day India, installed toilets and drains in the bathrooms. Many Asian cities collected waste
in clay containers which were hauled away (Vesilind et al., 2002).
The first recorded regulations for the management of solid wastes were established during the
Minoan civilization (Tammemagi, 1999). Around 2000 B.C.E., Israel provided guidelines as to how
to manage wastes; instructions for the management of human waste are provided in the Bible
(Deuteronomy 23:12–13). By 200 B.C.E., many cities in China employed “sanitary police,” who
were responsible for the enforcement of waste disposal laws (Vesilind et al., 2002).

2.3 GREECE
During the fifth century B.C.E., Greek municipalities began to establish town dumps that were main-
tained in a relatively orderly condition. Garbage normally consisted of food waste, fecal matter, pot-
sherds, and abandoned babies (e.g., malformed or illegitimate) (Kelly, 1973). In Athens (ca. 320
B.C.E.), each household was responsible for collecting and transporting its wastes (Tammemagi,
1999). Residents were required by law to sweep the streets daily, and it was mandated that wastes
be transported to sites beyond the city walls (Bilitewski et al., 1997).
During the early Bronze Age, it was common for the Trojans to allow many of their wastes (e.g.,
bones, rubbish) to accumulate on floors, which were eventually covered by a layer of soil and
packed into a new surface. It has been speculated that floor levels may have been raised by as much
as 20 in., possibly requiring inhabitants to raise the roofs and doors of their dwellings periodically
(Blegen, 1958; Alexander, 1993). Putrescible and bulky garbage was thrown into the streets, where
scavengers such as pigs or geese were allowed to forage among the piles. In some locations, slaves
and other “underclass” inhabitants were given the right to pick through the wastes that they carried
away (Alexander, 1993). For the most part, however, city dwellers lived amid waste and squalor.
Direct action for waste management was implemented only when the volume of wastes affected
local defense. For example, in Athens in 500 B.C., a law was passed that required all wastes to be
deposited at least 2 km outside of town limits because piles next to the city walls provided an oppor-
tunity for invaders to scale over them (Bilitewski et al., 1997).
Greek and Persian scholars were among the first to suggest an association between personal
hygiene, contaminated water, spoiled food, and disease outbreaks and epidemics. Hippocrates (ca.
400 B.C.E.) and the Persian Ibn Sina (980–1037 C.E.) suggested a relationship between waste and
infectious disease (Bilitewski et al., 1997).

2.4 ROME

In ancient Rome, wastes were dumped into the Tiber River, tossed into the streets, or dumped into
open pits on the outskirts of the city. Rome was the first civilization to create an organized waste
collection workforce in 14 C.E. (Vesilind et al., 2002). To handle the piles of wastes left on the
streets, teams of sanitation workers shoveled the materials into horse-drawn wagons. The collection
team transported the refuse to a pit, located either outside the city gates or at some distance from
the community. The city’s inhabitants, however, often preferred the convenience of a more local,