Timeline

D0 — Timeline – a brief history of waste

This timeline gives a broad overview of waste production and waste management and design from the 1700s to today. Bringing together important legislative changes, global events, waste management innovations, population statistics, objects, and activist movements, the entanglements between waste, the economy and the climate crisis are explored. We see that waste and waste management are not a new problem but have persisted for centuries. Likewise, designers, activists and politicians have been grappling with how to address the issue surrounding waste for many years.

What can we learn from the past and what do we need to do differently?

18th century

World population: 600 million

In the 18th century, and even more so in the following century, materials are systematically reused rather than thrown away. There are as many garbage pick-ups as there were markets: manure for farmers, ash for laundresses, cloth for paper pulp, etc. Waste as we know it today did not exist.

In Paris, hygiene problems start to appear. Following successive health reforms, Parisians are required to sweep the streets every day in the early hours of the morning, and not throw away animal blood, manure, vegetable pods, washing powder or other dirty water.

1775

Scottish inventor Alexander Cumming patents the first flushing toilet, enabling users to make their bodily waste ‘disappear’ for the first time.

The 19th century

World population: 1 billion

First part of the 19th century

The Industrial Revolution that began in England, spreads to the rest of Europe over the course of the century. The population of towns and cities grows steadily, and with it the volume of waste.

With the development of industry come new types of waste that no longer decompose, such as the residues from artificial soda factories and those from the lighting gas industry.

1810

In France, the imperial decree of October 15 regulates industrial pollution, but protects industrialists from criminal prosecution. The rivers in the industrial departments of northern France become “as black as ink”, mainly because of the by-products of beet juice distilleries and dye works. The sea becomes the ultimate outlet for waste.

1813

The ‘shoddy’ cloth, an early example of textile recycling, is manufactured by inventor Benjamin Law in the United Kingdom, using a combination of post-use and virgin wool.

1832

A lack of hygiene is responsible for the deadly cholera epidemic that sweeps through France, killing more than 100,000 people. French doctor Louis René Villermé, one of the founders of the Annales d’hygiène publique, points out the damaging effects of poor hygiene and overcrowding in Parisian slums.

Poster in aid of cholera victims.

• Anonymous illustrator.
• © CC0 Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris

1850

A law recognises the principle of hygiene and encourages planning measures that lead to the demolition of old slums.

Second half of the 19th century

The rural exodus begins in France, even though half the population continues to live off the land. Another divide begins to emerge between town and country: as agriculture gradually turns to imported and chemical fertilisers, manure, previously used to fertilise the soil, becomes a waste product for cities to manage.

As the population of Paris grows, so too does the industrialisation of cleaning under the leadership of Baron Haussmann. Appointed Prefect of the Seine in 1853, Haussmann, rethinks urban planning from a hygiene perspective and entrusts the municipality with the task of keeping the roads clean. He launches the construction of a sewer system. Paris serves as a model for other French cities.

1865

The Salvation Army is founded in London, and starts collecting, organising and recycling unwanted goods. The Salvation Army is subsequently established in France in 1881.

1872

After seeing an advertisement offering $10,000 to anyone who could find a suitable substitute for costly ivory billiard balls, American inventor John Wesley Hyatt and his brother Isaac discover that a new material, celluloid, can be injection-moulded, thus creating the first commercially-viable plastic product.

1883

With a decree on “the deposit and removal of household waste”, the Parisian prefect Eugène Poubelle imposes that waste is to be deposited in containers taken out at dawn. Parisians name these containers after the prefect.

The Poubelle decree arouses the ire of the ragpickers, who see themselves deprived of their resources; a new decree in 1884 once again authorises them to sort rubbish at dawn.

© Bibliothèque nationale de France / Agence Rol. Agence photographique (commanditaire)

1884

In the second half of the 19th century, the world’s first plastics are created from natural materials. The Frenchman Hilaire de Chardonnet invents an artificial silk based on cellulose.

1885

Paris is equipped with mains drainage.

1893

The first gramophone records made of shellac, a natural resin, begin mass production. The industry is consuming half of all shellac resources by the 1930s.

20^th century

World population: 1.6 billion

First part of the 20th century

The major problem of the 20^th century is the exponential consumption of products derived from synthetic chemistry and petrochemistry. From the 1930s onwards, in the United States, the strategy of programmed obsolescence is introduced to support growth. To deal with this influx of waste, landfill remains the norm in France until the late 1970s, before incineration was introduced.

Waste is also increasingly polluting, toxic and long-lasting with new forms of waste such as nuclear waste, chemical agents becoming more widely used.

1907

Bakelite is invented in New York by the Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland, it is the first plastic produced in a laboratory and, after being patented in 1909, quickly begins to be used in the production of weapons, radios, cups, buttons, false teeth and other everyday objects.

1910

Carts of rubbish are dumped in the Seine following the flood of 1910.

© Bibliothèque nationale de France / Agence Rol. Agence photographique (commanditaire)

1914-1918

The material demands of the First World War give rise to a series of government campaigns in Europe and the United States to reduce waste.

1926

The first commercial injection-moulding machine for plastics is patented by German firm Eckert and Ziegler.

1928

The first bin lorries are used in Sheffield, in the north of England, in 1928. Courtesy of the BFI National Archives

1930

In France, a competition is launched to find a “rapid process for destroying household waste” for small and medium-sized towns: incineration is selected as the winner, perceived as efficient and hygienic, with no inconvenience for local residents. The toxic fumes from incinerators will only be recognised much later.

1937

The first modern landfill in the United States opens in Fresno, California. The landfill covered 145 acres, about the size of 70 football pitches, by the time it closed in 1987.

1938

The first toothbrush with nylon tufts is manufactured.

1939-1945

The Second World War sees renewed campaigns against waste globally.

Bones are still needed, about 1940

• Design: Dorrit Dekk
• Original print: Gibbs and Waller Ltd
• Publisher/sponsor: Board of Trade, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office
• Photo: Imperial War Museums

1955

Life magazine promotes the idea of “Throwaway Living”: a new way of life in which single-use products free households, and especially the women who manage them, from household chores, leaving them more time for leisure activities.

Life magazine of 1 August 1955, considered to be one of the first to use the expression “throwaway living”.
Photo: Peter Stackpole/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

1957

The Soviet Union successfully launches its Sputnik spacecraft, marking the start of the Space Age and the emergence of ‘space junk’.

The 1960s

The word “recycling” appears in the French language. The possibility of recycling waste means that it can continue to be used.

1960

Jean-Jacques Cousteau helps to cancel a project that plans to dump 6,500 drums of radioactive waste in the Mediterranean Sea between the Côte d’Azur and Corsica. His television programmes help to popularise and protect the beauty of the underwater world.

1960

American journalist and social critic Vance Packard releases The Waste Makers, a best-seller that argues the United States is being harmed by its over-consumption of material goods.

1962

Silent Spring by biologist Rachel Carson is published. This book helps launch the ecology movement in the Western world. It denounces the use of pesticides that pollute the environment.

1965

The polyethylene bag begins circulation. Celloplast, a Swedish firm, obtains a US patent for ‘the t-shirt plastic bag’, which becomes the standard for plastic shopping bags.

1967

British journalist, broadcaster, novelist and nurse Claire Rayner writes the article ‘Rubbish’, suggesting how waste management could be improved.

‘Rubbish’ by Claire Rayner

• Published in: Design Journal 128, February 1967
• Design Museum Collection

The 1970s

Personal computers are introduced in the United States and later globally, increasing the production of electronic components and electronic waste (e-waste).

In France and elsewhere, associations and activist groups are warning of the growing ecological crisis and helping to raise awareness of the consequences of pollution and the accumulation of waste. The environment becomes part of the vocabulary of public action.

In France, environmentalist media are emerging, with the launch of new titles such as La Gueule Ouverte – “the newspaper that announces the end of the world” – and Le Sauvage.  Calls for ecological action also appear in publications such as Hara Kiri and Charlie Hebdo.

1970

The first Earth Day is held in the United States, on 22 April. This grows into an annual, global event to demonstrate support for the environment.

American graphic designer Gary Anderson designs the recycling logo, a variation on the Möbius loop which is now globally recognised.

1971

Greenpeace is founded by a small group of Canadian activists to protest against bomb testing

in the Gulf of Alaska, which has grown into a global campaign network today.

1971

For the first time, a ministry dedicated to the protection of nature and the environment is formed in France.

1972

The Club of Rome, which brings together scientists, senior civil servants and industrialists from 52 countries, publishes its first report on “The Limits to Growth”, also known as the “Meadows Report”, which recognises the ecological damage caused by the economic growth of the “Glorious Thirty” (1945-1975).

1973

The first patent of a PET bottle strong enough to withstand the pressure of carbonated drinks, designed by American engineer Nathaniel Wyeth, is granted.

1974

The first Universal Product Code (UPC) is scanned at the March Supermarket in Ohio, the United States. The adoption of this barcode signaled a move towards digital stock-management to avoid waste.

1974

In the French presidential election, the agronomist René Dumont becomes the first candidate to run as an ecologist.

1975

The first French law on waste tackles the problem of poorly controlled or illegal landfill sites. The law gives the first legal definition of waste in France. It is not until 2006 that waste is defined at the European level.

1976

In the Italian town of Seveso, a toxic cloud escaping from a chemical plant contaminates thousands of hectares of land and livestock with dioxins. Other contaminations with these persistent organic pollutants (POPs) follow, emitted by household-waste incinerators. This first disaster leads to the European directive requiring Member States to identify industrial sites presenting major accident risks. As a result of the disaster, these sites are known as “Seveso sites”.

1978

Coca-Cola and Pepsi introduce the first two-litre PET bottle, popularising the form as the standard for soft-drink bottles.

1978

The Amoco Cadiz oil tanker sinks off the coast of Brittany, spilling over 200,000 tonnes of crude oil. Contaminating 400 kilometres of coastline, this oil slick remains one of the great ecological disasters that have left their mark on the French people.

1979

The chemical compounds PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), commonly used in the production of electrical appliances such as televisions and refrigerators, are banned in the United States and the United Kingdom because of their contamination of water and air. PCBs are banned in France from 1987.

The 1980s

1980

Landfill usage in Europe and North America peaks, with sites across the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands closing. In France, the obligation to close municipal landfill sites dates from 2002.

1981

A “whistle-blower” exposes the scandal at the Montchanin landfill: for more than ten years, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste from all over Europe have been buried in a former quarry in this Saône-et-Loire commune. The landfill is closed in 1989.

1981

In France, the economist Ignacy Sachs, one of the pioneers of sustainable development, publishes his first book in 1981, Invitation à l’écodéveloppement, in which he advocates economic growth that respects the environment and combats inequality.

1988

The United Nations establishes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to assess the science behind the climate crisis.

1988

The first Triselec household-waste sorting centre is set up in Dunkirk. The waste is weighed, sorted and sent to recycling plants.

1989

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is adopted, coming into effect in 1992. The treaty forbids ‘developed’ countries from dumping e-waste in ‘less developed’ countries. Despite this, as of 2017, 50 million tonnes of e-waste are dumped every year in Ghana, West Africa, making it the largest site for e-waste in the world.

The 1990’s

1991

In France, The Agence de l’environnement et de la maîtrise de l’énergie (Ademe) is created from the merger of several agencies. Responsible for waste, this agency now provides information to businesses, local authorities and the general public on reducing waste at source.

1995

Evian collapsible pet bottles, 1995

Evian, a French mineral water company, introduces collapsible PET bottles for its spring water to encourage recycling.

• Materials: Plastic (PET – polyethylene terephthalate)
• Manufacture: Danone
• Design Museum Collection Gift of the Conran Foundation

1997

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, nicknamed ‘the Eighth Continent of Plastic’, is discovered in the North Pacific Ocean.

1997

An independent group sets up the Centre national d’information indépendante sur les déchets (Cniid), which becomes Zero Waste France in 2014. Its first actions focus on the dangers of incineration and the over-packaging of products.

1999

Norway introduces the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) as an incentive for recycling. As of 2018, data showed that Norway had a plastic bottle recycling rate of 97%.

21th century

World population: 6 billion

Early 2000s

The global output of waste increases more in the first decade of the 2000s than in the previous forty years.

2006

Leboncoin, an online sales site for private individuals, is created. Five years later, it is one of the fifteen most visited websites in France.

2007

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the IPCC and US politician Al Gore Jr for their efforts to combat climate change.

Companies and designers are creating waste-reducing products, recognising the damage of single-use goods.

Part of a backlash against the plastic bag, this £5 canvas tote bag sells out on its launch in the UK in 2007

• Material: Cotton canvas
• Design: Anya Hindmarch

2010

The Entressen landfill, which has been receiving household waste from the city of Marseille for a century, closes.

2013

The Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapses. With worldwide media coverage, this tragedy reveals that fast fashion (fast, disposable fashion based on hyper-consumption) is one of the world’s most polluting and destructive industries.

2013

France’s first all-bulk shop is set up.

2015

The France Nature Environnement association creates Nature Sentinels, a mobile application for reporting illegal waste dumping throughout France. Hundreds of reports are sent each year.

2015

The 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) on climate change – which brings together 195 countries and the European Union in Paris – concludes with an agreement to limit the rise in temperature to a maximum of 2°C compared with the pre-industrial era.

2015

To help consumers make sense of the many existing logos, only one is now compulsory on all recyclable packaging and products in France. It is called Triman.

2016

The Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), an international treaty that commits signatories to reducing carbon emissions for a sustainable future, comes into effect. In 2023, out of 196 members, 193 countries and the European Union will have signed the agreement.

2016

Single-use plastic bags are banned in French supermarkets.

2017

The new building called Amager Bakke combines a heat and power waste-to-energy plant with a sports facility in Amager, Copenhagen, Denmark. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, it has become one of the cleanest waste-to-energy plants in the world due to technology that filters its emissions.

2017

On 1st June, the Trump administration announces that the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord to protect the US economy. The measure takes effect on 4 November 2020. The Biden administration rejoins the Accord on 20 January 2021.

2017

China, once the biggest importer of waste plastics, passes a law to ban the import of 24 types of solid waste, including plastic and paper. Neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Thailand see a huge increase in waste imports.

Trash isles campaign, 2017

The Plastic Oceans Foundation and LADbible USA launch a campaign to recognise a fictitious country, ‘Trash Isles’, that has a national flag, passport and currency. Reaching over half a million people, the project raised awareness of the issue of plastic waste in the ocean.

• Materials: Mixed media
• Design: Mario Kerkstra, Dalatando Almeida, Michael Hughes, Tony Wilson
• Design Museum Collection
• Gift of Plastic Oceans International

2018

Environmental movement Extinction Rebellion is formed in the UK, announcing its presence with a protest on London Bridge in November. The French branch is created at the end of the same year. It grows into a global community of activists who use nonviolent civil disobedience to call for governments to act on the climate crisis.

Demonstrators on Westminster Bridge in London for a protest called by Extinction Rebellion to raise awareness of the dangers posed by climate change in 2018

Photo: PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo

2019

Swedish pupil Greta Thunberg continues her strike from school, demanding climate action from world leaders. In 2019, she speaks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, saying, ‘I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.’

2019

The European Space Agency publishes estimates of the amount of debris in space: over 128 million pieces smaller than 1cm; about 900,000 pieces between 1cm and 10cm; and around 34,000 pieces larger than 10cm.

At the end of June, Météo France records the hottest weather ever measured in France: 46°C.

Greta Thunberg on climate strike
Photo: © Jasper Chamber / Alamy Stock Photo

Beyond 2020

World population: 7.8 billion

2020

The coronavirus pandemic leads to a global increase in single-use plastics due to health measures and requirements for personal protection. Each month, 194 billion disposable masks and gloves are used globally.

2020

In France, an anti-waste law prohibits manufacturers from disposing of unsold non-food products. And food retailers are required to halve their waste by 2025.

2021

The French government bans the sale and availability of disposable plastic cups, cutlery, plates and straws.

Human-made objects and materials now outweigh all biomass on Earth.

2021

The EU Commission votes on the Right to Repair act. The first EU legislation, requiring some electrical goods to last for at least a decade, comes into action in March 2021.

Designers increasingly reuse waste materials in their practice.

The X-Press Pearl container ship catches fire off the coast of Sri Lanka in May and 1,486 steel containers tumble into the sea. Millions of plastic pellets used to make shopping bags pollute nearby beaches, devastating marine life.

The COP26 summit is held in Glasgow and 193 countries commit to reducing world fossil fuel emissions to net zero by 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

The IPCC report warns that we are at a “now or never” moment for mitigating the crisis and that the transfer to a low-carbon economy and society must happen immediately.

2022

Russia invades Ukraine and causes an oil supply crisis. Spain conserves energy by introducing curfews on public lighting after 10pm and imposing air-conditioning and heating temperature limits. In France, there are only recommendations: only use air conditioning when the indoor temperature exceeds 26°C and heating when it falls below 19°C.

The UN environment report analyses the gap between the CO₂ cuts pledged by countries at COP26 and the actions that have been taken, concluding that progress has been “woefully inadequate” with only 24 countries having submitted new or revised targets for emissions.

2023

In France, from 1 January, sorting instructions for recycling are made simpler: all plastic, metal and paper packaging can be thrown into the yellow recycling bin, even soiled packaging.

2023

2 August is named as this year’s Earth Overshoot Day, the date by which humanity has already consumed, in 2023, all that the planet can regenerate in one year. Proposed by the international organisation WWF, this date is coming earlier every year.

2024

For the Olympic Games, Paris City Hall is announcing a single-use-plastic-free event and free access to drinking water, while the capital is expecting 16 million visitors.

2040

France has set itself the target of putting an end to single-use plastic packaging.