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Early Waste Disposal
Around 1900, waste -- what we call
“garbage”-- was handled much differently
than it is today. In fact, garbage was a term used
to describe what was mostly food waste (vegetable
and animal matter left over from cooking), while “refuse”
or “rubbish” was used to describe wood,
metal, cinders, bricks, cloth, leather, and other
waste materials. It was general practice throughout
rural and suburban communities to dispose of garbage
by feeding it to pigs. An 1881 article from Manufacturer
and Builder Magazine, titled “How to Dispose
of Kitchen Garbage” states that, “in the
suburbs of our cities and towns, where the pig-pen
is at hand, no trouble is experienced in ridding the
premises of this form of refuse” (American Memory
Site). From 1900 to around 1940 in many parts of Connecticut,
garbage was disposed of by feeding it to pigs or chickens
(Haley & Aldrich, p. 28).
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A refuse heap
located behind houses in West Virginia illustrates
a typical mode of waste disposal in the first
decades of the 1900s. |
Following the traditions of the 1700s, homeowners
in the 1800s and early 1900s would typically dump
their waste – whether “garbage”
or “refuse” -- somewhere on their property.
This random and messy method of waste disposal created
eyesores, odors, and ultimately, health problems.
As the populations of urban centers grew along with
industrialization, municipalities had no idea how
to cope with the huge amounts of waste being generated.
Waste that piled up and was not handled properly attracted
rats and other carriers (vectors) of disease. These
unsanitary conditions resulted in the outbreak of
cholera, dysentery, tuberculosis (TB), typhoid fever,
influenza, yellow fever, and, after the Civil War,
malaria throughout Connecticut’s cities (CDC
Website). Refuse piles such as the one pictured below
in North Branford in 1930 were identified as health
risks.
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Refuse heap,
North Branford, 1930 |
In 1916, an effort was made to reduce
the public health problem caused by garbage and the
Town of Hamden began to collect garbage from people’s
homes and put it together in designated areas (Haley
& Aldrich, p. 28). In Hamden at this time, there
was a large pigsty located in the Highwood District
that took in local garbage and much of New Haven’s
garbage as well. Residents were asked to make sure
that all “disinfectants, refuse, wrapping, glass,
sea food shells, sharp objects or thing[s] that might
be injurious to hogs” were removed before it
was collected (Haley & Aldrich, p. 28).
After 1900, public health officials helped stop the
spread of many diseases by educating the public on
proper sanitation and waste disposal. Yet, organized
solid waste (refuse) collection was not tackled by
many state health departments (or the Town of Hamden)
until the 1950s (Haley & Aldrich, p. 28). Rubbish
was still often dumped in yards, empty lots and wetlands,
or burned on private property. To further improve
health conditions, by 1917, three public dumps were
created in Hamden. In Highwood, the dump was located
between Goodrich and Morse Streets along Shelton Avenue.
A number of private dumps existed throughout the town
as well. Some of these were not officially monitored
by the Town of Hamden. Waste from industrial manufacturing
was taken to these dumps as well as household waste.
Local manufacturing at plants such as the Winchester
Repeating Arms resulted in large amounts of leftover
material in the form of coke, ash and cinder. Coke
is a hard sponge-like material that remains once coal
has been fired to very high temperatures.
By 1925, the Hamden Annual Report suggested that municipal
collection of garbage would be most efficient and
that “the disposal of garbage by feeding to
pigs should be discontinued” (Haley & Aldrich,
p. 28). The Health Officer suggested that garbage
and refuse “be deposited on land located on
waste land, swamps, etc. Thereby eliminating mosquito
breeding places and creating play ground and public
parks, much needed in this community” (Haley
& Aldrich, p.30). This philosophy about waste
disposal was widespread and popular throughout urban
areas at the time, and became the root of major changes
in the landscape of the Newhall community.
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