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A Brief History of Waste Management 25
the fronts of houses, following which it was to be carted away, outside the city (Alexander, 1993;
Harris and Bickerstaffe, 1990). As quoted by Rawlinson (1958):
The refuse was raked together and loaded onto tumbrels [farmer’s wagons], drawn by two horses.
London maintained 12 of these specially designed carts. … A number of laystalls were [sic] established
in the city suburbs and on the banks of the river. Special days were appointed when refuse was to be put
outside doors for the rakers to scoop up and trundle away to the laystalls.
Another common practice during the medieval period was to discard wastes into surface water.
The plague of 1347 may have been precipitated by waste disposal into watercourses such as the
Thames River. Also known as “The Black Death,” the plague claimed the lives of 25 million of 80
million European citizens over the period 1347 to 1352. The epidemic was rapidly spread by fleas
whose hosts (Norway rats) flourished in the abominable sanitary conditions of the period (Alexander,
1993). Edward III notified the Mayor and Sheriffs of London to discontinue the practice of dumping
into waterways, after experiencing an unpleasant trip down the fouled Thames. In 1383, an ordinance
was passed against river disposal by people living on the Walbrook watercourse because the prepon-
derance of garbage plugged the river. The English Parliament prohibited dumping filth and garbage
into rivers, ditches, and watercourses in 1388. It was also ordered that refuse be carried away to
selected sites so that it would not become the source of nuisance (Wilson, 1977). The practice of
dumping in water, however, continued illegally into the 19th century with the consequent contami-
nation of roads, rivers, and groundwater by human and animal waste (Bilitewski, 1997).
In 1407, inhabitants of London were instructed to keep their refuse indoors until rakers could
carry it away (Wilson, 1977). “Refuse collected was sold to farmers and market gardeners; that from
the riverside laystalls was taken downstream in boats to be dumped on the Essex marshes.”
(Rawlinson, 1958) The paving of streets was also required, so that inhabitants would not have to
wade through fecal matter and other wastes (Bilitewski et al., 1997). In 1408, Henry IV ordered that
refuse be removed or else forfeits would have to be paid. Garbage cans were introduced during this
time. The streets were cleaned, animal carcasses were collected, and the possessions of people who
had died from the plague were burned (Bilitewski et al., 1997).
Despite acts, ordinances, and threats, however, the mounds of solid waste persisted as a nui-
sance and health hazard in Europe. London city officials began paying informers to report offend-
ers who threw their garbage into the streets and who were later fined. As an example, one Londoner
in 1421 (Rawlinson, 1958):

was arraigned for making a great nuisance and discomfort to his neighbours by throwing out horrible
filth onto the highway, the stench of which was so odious, that none of his neighbours could remain in
their shops.

Paris and some medieval German cities required that wagons, which had brought goods and
supplies into the city, must depart with a load of wastes to be deposited in the countryside (Wilson,
1977; Gerlat, 1999).
The waste issue reached a crisis stage in Europe in about 1500. Populations continued to surge
into the cities. Garbage from households, animal manure, and industrial debris continued to be
dumped into the central gutters in the street. As was the case with Athens 2000 years earlier, munic-
ipal wastes were piled so high outside the gates of Paris as to potentially interfere with the defense
of the city (Tammemagi, 1999).
Even with the increased efforts of English rakers, whose work included cleaning large public
spaces and market squares, lawmakers were still offended by the filth in the streets (Wilson, 1977).
Paris was somewhat ahead of London in its institution of municipal street cleaning, paid for by pub-
lic funds, in 1506 (Wilson, 1977; Hosch, 1967).
During the mid-1600s the population of London reached about 400,000. The journals of Daniel
Defoe and Samuel Pepys described the stench of the garbage and documented the plague that was