Humans have been throwing away stuff from the first moment they started cooking and eating, and even before that humans produced poo and wee that needed to be dealt with.
Our History of Waste Timeline provides a useful overview of all things waste related, especially related to Exeter and Devon, but relevant to the Primary National Curriculum. Explore the fascinating world of waste from the Stone Age to the Modern Era, and imagine what the future might hold!
The History of Waste timeline can be seen in real life displayed at Exeter Energy from Waste plant and forms part of our free school trips, linking science and history and providing children and their families with practical ways to reduce waste at home.
There is also a fun Kahoot, using information found within the timeline, that can be used as a classroom activity, after a trip to see the plant.
History of Waste Timeline
8000BC - 3000BC
Early Stone Age
Hunter Gatherers
44,000 years ago humans were living in Kents Cavern, Devon
First humans were always on the move and only left ash, poo, bones and rotten fruit. This means waste from this time decomposed and became part of the soil.
4200BC
Late Stone Age
Farming gradually spread across Britain and people invented new objects to make their lives simpler e.g. jugs & bowls from clay.
4200BC
2100BC
Bronze Age
People learn to make bronze weapons and tools.
750BC
Iron Age
Small villages first formed. Hill forts were established across Devon. Archaeologists use middens or refuse heaps to work out what people in the past ate and threw away.
750BC
50AD
Romans
The Romans arrived in Exeter!
For the next 30 years Exeter was a Roman garrison town called Isca. As many as 5000 Roman soldiers lived here at one point. Exeter became a large and important town and trading route, with an enormous bathhouse (built in 55AD, located in the current Cathedral Green) and market place lined with shops (called a Forum). The Romans built a large stone wall to contain and protect the town of Isca.
450AD
Anglo-Saxon Britain
Glass in the Anglo-Saxon period was used in the manufacture of a range of objects including vessels, beads, windows and was even used in jewellery.
450AD
1066AD
Norman invasion
William the Conqueror took over England after his victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066!
Small towns started to develop but these towns had no bins, drains or toilets. Waste built up in the streets and became very smelly and attracted rats and flies.
1200AD
Building started on Exeter Cathedral
Around 1200 the first parts of the cathedral were built, with the rest built in the 14th Century.1200AD
1238
Exe Bridge built
The first Exe Bridge was completed in 1238.
1297
Port of Exeter
Exeter was an important and busy port, trading in wool. Marsh Barton was drained and the fields were used to graze sheep.
A British law was introduced to keep front doors clear of rubbish, but people just dumped it outside someone else’s door!
1297
1300s
Countess Wear built
In the 13th century Countess Isabella of Devon built a weir (Countess Wear) to stop boats going up the river to Exeter Quay, so they would unload at Topsham and pay money and tax at the port there, which was owned by her family!
1345
Refuse Law
A law was passed stating that anyone dumping refuse in the street would be fined two shillings – at the time, a considerable sum.
1345
1348
Black Death
1,900 people in Exeter died of the Black Death.
1485
Tudors
By Tudor Times Exeter was one of the 6 biggest cities in the UK Exeter had a population of 8,000.
1485
1566
Exeter Canal built
The Exeter Canal was built at Countess Wear, reopening the port at Exeter Quay for trade with big ships again. Cloth made of local wool was woven in local towns (Honiton, Crediton, Tiverton) and traded across Europe.
Explorers like Sir Francis Drake (born in Tavistock) and Sir Walter Raleigh (who was born in East Budleigh) were often seen walking along the quay or in the local public houses.
1603AD
Stuart
Stuart England was a hotbed of rebellion and uprising. The English Civil War (1642-1651) split Devon down the middle, with some areas siding with the King and his Royalists (Cavaliers), and others following Cromwell and his Parliamentarians (Roundheads). It played a fundamental part during the war, as one of the key battlegrounds.
1603AD
1681 - 1793
Exeter Glassworks
Situated on the banks of the River Exe, stood one and maybe three, large brick cones that were the hallmark of Exeter’s long lost glass industry. Glasshouse Lane was named in 1947 after the glasshouse which it once skirted. Rich landowners would have their glass bottles personalised at the Countess Wear Glasshouse.
1714
Georgian Era
Britain’s population estimated at 5,500,000.
1714
1500-1800
Exeter’s wool & cloth industry
The prosperity of Exeter from the 16th to 18th century was due to the processing and exporting of woollen cloth called kersey and later a type of twill fabric called serge. Urine was used to treat the cloth – Every night urine was collected from taverns, inns and houses by men with a “piss cart”.
1712
Atmospheric Steam Engine invented
Heralding the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, British inventor Thomas Newcomen (born in Dartmouth, Devon in 1664) invented the atmospheric steam engine, an important precursor to the first steam engine invented by James Watt.
1712
1784
Industrial Revolution
Mechanization, steam power & the weaving loom were invented and made making stuff much, much easier!
1801
First organised solid waste systems appeared
Exeter’s population 24,499
Britain’s population estimated at 9,000,000
The first occurrence of organised solid waste management system appeared in London in the late 18th century. A waste collection and resource recovery system was established around the ‘dust-yards’. Waste from households was mostly ash from coal fires (‘dust’) which had a market value for brick-making and as a soil improver.
1801
1808
Pigs roam free in Exeter
Pigs, which ate food waste, were kept in large numbers throughout the city and poultry were kept in houses. Dung heaps were a common sight and in certain areas, like Butcher’s Row, heaps of rotting offal littered the street. Scavengers were employed to clean the streets once a week.
1813
Tin cans invented
Two Englishmen, Bryan Donkin and John Hall, set up the world’s first commercial canning factory in London. By 1813 they were producing their first tin canned goods for the Royal Navy. By 1820, tin canisters or cans were being used for gunpowder, seeds, and turpentine.
1813
1831
Piggeries abolished
The Board of Health working with the newly-formed ‘Commissioners of Improvement’ laid down plans to cover the drains, make more sewers and abolish piggeries from the city.
1832
Cholera outbreak in Exeter kills 438
Reports at the time say that many families shared the same house, collecting dirty drinking water from the Quay. Slaughter houses had piles of rotting carcasses and heaps of sewage littered the town. It’s no wonder people were dying!
A doctor called Thomas Shapter wrote a book about the outbreak of Cholera and helped clean up the town and make improvements to the water system.
1832
1837
Start of Victorian Era
By early Victorian times, Exeter was only about the 60th biggest city in the country.
1842
New Waste management methods needed
As urban areas grew, Edwin Chadwick produced a report on “The Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population”. This made the case for new waste management methods in major cities and towns.
1842
1846-1860
New waste laws passed
Nuisance Removal and Disease Prevention Acts were introduced and began the process of modern waste regulation.
1850s
Rag & Bone Men
Informal waste management and recycling collections were well established in London and other towns: Street buyers bought any repairable items, old clothes, furniture, waste paper, bottles and glass, metals, rags, hare and rabbit skins, dripping, grease, bones and tea leaves. This occupation continued as ‘rag and-bone men’ until well after the Second World War.
1850s
1860
Loos invented
The first public flushing toilet was introduced!
1869
Plastic invented
The first synthetic polymer was invented in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt, who was inspired by a New York firm’s offer of $10,000 for anyone who could provide a substitute for ivory.
The growing popularity of billiards had put a strain on the supply of natural ivory, obtained through the slaughter of wild elephants.
By treating cellulose, derived from cotton fibre, with camphor, Hyatt discovered a plastic that could be crafted into a variety of shapes and made to imitate natural substances like tortoiseshell, horn, linen, and ivory. This discovery was revolutionary. For the first time humans could create new materials.
1869
1874
First incinerator built
The dramatic increase in waste for disposal led to the creation of the first incineration plants, or, as they were then called, ‘destructors’. In 1874, the first incinerator was built in Nottingham by Manlove, Alliott & Co. Ltd. to the design of Alfred Fryer.
1875
First dust bins
Public Health Act – Local authorities were made responsible for regular removal and disposal of refuse, and required households to put waste into ‘moveable receptacles’.
1875
1876
Telephone invented
Alexander Graham Bell patented the first electric telephone.
1884
First TV
German technician Paul Nipkow invented the first television.
1884
1894
Waste Management services introduced
Local Government Act – created hundreds of new Urban and Rural District Councils with responsibility for local services including waste collection, disposal and sewerage.
1901
Modern era
Exeter’s population 50,000
Britain’s population estimated at 41,000,000
1901
1907
Bakelite invented
Bakelite (first synthetic plastic) was invented by Leo Baekeland. Bakelite was durable, heat resistant, and, unlike the first celluloid plastics, ideally suited for mechanical mass production. Marketed as “the material of a thousand uses,” Bakelite could be shaped or moulded into almost anything.
1914-1918
First World War
1914-1918
1938
Nylon invented
DuPont invented the first totally synthetic fibre and gave it the trade name ‘Nylon’. This was the first flexible plastic and was used to replace silk stockings. American soldiers brought them to Britain during the Second World War.
1939-1945
Second World War
War-time recycling
As raw materials were scarce, the “Make do and Mend” ethos came about, with the government encouraging people to mend broken furniture and reuse old clothing for rags.
Reducing food waste
With strict rationing and limited supplies available, the British people reduced the amount of food waste produced by cooking only what was necessary and growing what they could from home. Grounds for allotments were cleared creating make-shift farms, bringing together communities to work the land and share the produce.
Recycling on a grander scale
Recycling was of vital importance during war time and in 1939 the National Salvage Campaign was launched by the Ministry of Supply. The Women’s Voluntary Service and children all played an important role in collecting paper, metal and clothes, both at home and in their community.
1939-1945
1940
Cogs scheme started
In 1940 the Cogs scheme for children was launched as part of the National Salvage Campaign. Children could earn the red Junior Salvage Steward cog badge for their hard work, a bit like a Blue Peter badge. The children’s work was regarded as an essential ‘cog’ in the wheels of the war effort.
1949
Plastic lego invented
Lego was invented in the 1930s but early designs were made from wood. The first plastic bricks were marketed in Denmark in 1949.
1949
1950s
Plastic production accelerated
Plastic began to be used for everyday objects: furniture, TVs, toilet seats, nappies, toys, food packaging etc.
1970
Recycling symbol designed
A 23-year-old college student at the University of Southern California called Gary Anderson won a competition to produce a universal recycling symbol.
First Earth Day celebrated
Every year on April 22, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.
1970
1974
Control of Pollution Act
This was put in place to make improvements to waste disposal, water pollution, noise, atmospheric pollution and public health.
1981
First PC launched
IBM launched the first ‘Personal Computer’ (PC)
1981
1985
Council waste and recycling
Recycling rates had fallen significantly since war time and there was no collection of recyclable material from people’s homes. Recyclable material could be taken to the Civic Amenities Tip at the site of the old incinerator.
1989
World Wide Web invented
British computer scientist, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web!
“Before the World Wide Web there was different information on different computers, but you had to log on to different computers to get at it.”
1989
1990
The Environmental Protection Act
The Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1990 is an Act of the Parliament that provides the fundamental structure and authority for waste management and control of emissions into the environment in the UK.
1990-91
Devon’s recycling rate = 2.7%
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1990-91
1993
First smartphone
The first smartphone was designed by IBM which included a touchscreen.
1996
EU Emissions Directive
The EU Emissions Directive came into force which caused the old Exeter incinerator to close as it did not meet restrictions.
The Landfill Tax was introduced and was the UK’s first environmental tax. It has been a key driver for increased recycling and a move towards Energy from Waste plants instead of landfill.
1996
1997
Lego Lost at Sea
In February 1997 the container ship Tokio Express lost 62 shipping containers overboard after it was hit by a rogue wave off the coast of Land’s End, Cornwall. One of these containers held just under 5 million pieces of Lego. Many of the pieces lost were from kits about the sea, including pieces from Lego Pirates and Lego Aquazone. To this day those pieces, which include octopuses, sea grass, spear guns, life rafts, scuba tanks, cutlasses, flippers and dragons, are washing up on the beaches of Devon and Cornwall.
1999-2000
Devon’s recycling rate = 23.4%
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1999-2000
2002
Launch of Don’t Let Devon go to Waste
Launch of Don’t let Devon go to waste – and the first TV ad about recycling.
2004
Recycle Now launched
Milestone Content goes here
2004
2004-2011
Growth of recycling
Devon’s recycling rate grows rapidly with the expansion of kerbside recycling and food waste collection schemes across the County.
2007
Launch of the iPhone
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2007
2011
Recycle Devon logo
Recycle Devon flower logo used for the first time
2014
Exeter ERF built
Devon embraced Energy from Waste instead of landfill with the completion of two Energy from Waste plants – one in Exeter and one in Plymouth.
2014
2018-19
Devon’s recycling rate = 56%
Devon is one of the best places in the country for recycling, and barely any rubbish now goes to landfill either, thanks to the two Energy from Waste plants.
