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Municipal Solid Waste History, PA: the problems created by solid waste production in the state of Pennsylvania have
been around since colonial times. Benjamin Franklin founded the Philadelphia sanitation department in 1739, and led
protests against polluting slaughter houses, tan yards, and skinner lime pits on pubic docks. Colonial America lacked
organized public works for street cleaning, refuse collection, water treatment, and human waste removal until the
early 1800s. Recurrent epidemics forced efforts to improve public health and the environment. By the time
attention turned to solid waste management in the 1880s, funding was not available for a regional infrastructure.
Thus, solid waste management was established as a local responsibility, centered on nearby municipal dumps.
Today: In 2008, Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash and recycled and composted 83 million tons of
this material, equivalent to a 33.2 percent recycling rate. On average, we recycled and composted 1.5 pounds of our
individual waste generation of 4.5 pounds per person per day. Recycling has environmental benefits at every stage in
the life cycle of a consumer product from the raw material with which it’s made to its final method of disposal.
Recycling reduces air and water pollution associated with making new products from raw materials. Nationally, we
recycled 83 million tons of MSW. This provides an annual benefit of 182 million metric tons of carbon dioxide
equivalent emissions reduced, comparable to removing the emissions from 33 million passenger cars. But the
ultimate benefits from recycling are cleaner land, air, and water, overall better health, and a more sustainable
economy. http://www.epa.gov/wastes/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2008rpt.pdf
been around since colonial times. Benjamin Franklin founded the Philadelphia sanitation department in 1739, and led
protests against polluting slaughter houses, tan yards, and skinner lime pits on pubic docks. Colonial America lacked
organized public works for street cleaning, refuse collection, water treatment, and human waste removal until the
early 1800s. Recurrent epidemics forced efforts to improve public health and the environment. By the time
attention turned to solid waste management in the 1880s, funding was not available for a regional infrastructure.
Thus, solid waste management was established as a local responsibility, centered on nearby municipal dumps.
Today: In 2008, Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash and recycled and composted 83 million tons of
this material, equivalent to a 33.2 percent recycling rate. On average, we recycled and composted 1.5 pounds of our
individual waste generation of 4.5 pounds per person per day. Recycling has environmental benefits at every stage in
the life cycle of a consumer product from the raw material with which it’s made to its final method of disposal.
Recycling reduces air and water pollution associated with making new products from raw materials. Nationally, we
recycled 83 million tons of MSW. This provides an annual benefit of 182 million metric tons of carbon dioxide
equivalent emissions reduced, comparable to removing the emissions from 33 million passenger cars. But the
ultimate benefits from recycling are cleaner land, air, and water, overall better health, and a more sustainable
economy. http://www.epa.gov/wastes/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2008rpt.pdf
