EARLY 19TH CENTURY LONDON DUSTYARDS: A CASE STUDY IN CLOSED-LOOP RESOURCE EFFICIENCY

There is a common misconception that resource efficiency is a recent phenomenon when in fact extensive organised reuse and recycling of ‘waste’ materials has occurred for many centuries (Woodward, 1985; Strasser, 2000; Cooper, 2006). Most studies relate the origin of systematically organised, municipality-wide, solid waste management systems to the sanitation movement in the second half of the 19th century (Gandy, 1994). However, in London a highly effective and organised system appears to date back to at least the end of the 18th century. This often ignored system was driven not by public health concerns, but by the resource value of household waste or ‘dust,’ which had a high content of coal ash that was in demand for brickmaking and agricultural markets. (Session A9: Waste recycling (I))

The  semi-formal dust-yard system of waste management operating in early 19th century London has contemporary relevance, as it was probably the first example of a systematically organised, municipality-wide waste management system. This paper for the first time investigates this prominent case of urban environmental history: it describes the features of material recovery methods used by dust-yards, examines the conditions that led to their development, success and decline, and explores their contemporary relevance. The dust-yards played a key role in the subsequent development of systematic waste management systems, introduced in response to public health concerns. They were resource efficient, recovering 100% of the residual wastes collected after the informal sector had removed the easily recyclable materials. They can be seen as early precursors of modern MRF and MBT plants; as an early example of public-private sector participation, predating recent ‘innovations’ by nearly 200 years; and they have many similarities with current informal recycling systems in developing countries.



Copyright: © IWWG International Waste Working Group
Quelle: General Session A (Oktober 2007)
Seiten: 11
Preis: € 11,00
Autor: Costas Velis
David C. Wilson
Prof. Christopher Robert Cheeseman
 
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