DOCUMENT 22.3
Waste Disposal
Waste disposal has always been a significant challenge for urban communities. Without effective waste disposal systems, cities quickly become centers of pollution and disease. Such problems grew many times worse over the course of the first half of the nineteenth century, as the population of Western cities exploded and industrial waste was added to the overall waste problem. These films provide a sense of the scale of the challenge in turn-of-the-century New York. As you watch them, ask yourself how the activities they depict might fit into a larger waste disposal plan. Where does all the garbage go?
New York City Dumping Wharf (1903)
Sorting Refuse at an Incinerating Plant (1903)
Source: Video courtesy of Library of Congress, Moving Image Section.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
How might waste have been collected before it was transferred to the barge tied up at the dumping wharf? How might the horses seen pulling waste carts have contributed to New York’s waste problem?
How might the incineration of waste have helped solve the waste problem? What unintended consequences might incineration have produced? What should we make of the fact that most of the incineration workers are African American?