A Brief History of Solid Waste Mangement in the US During the Last 50 Years – Part 2

At the end of World War II, urban growth accelerated. With this growth came increased refuse generation. The impacts of open-burning dumps on public health became a concern. Experience in the military with sanitary fill methods and the interests by some local governments in eliminating open dumps led to increased efforts to dispose of refuse in a sanitary manner, but what prescribed a sanitary manner was unknown. Many local governments that bragged about using the “sanitary landfill” method were actually using modified open dumps. Unlike Shakespeare and his rose, a sanitary landfill by any other name ain’t a sanitary landfill.