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The Compass: The History of Wastefulness: The History of Wastefulness: Rubbish Through the Ages

Factual

Monte di Coccio-Testaccio - Rome

16/01/2019 GMT

The History of Wastefulness: Rubbish Through the Ages

The History of Wastefulness

BBC World Service - The Compass, The History of Wastefulness, The History of Wastefulness: Rubbish Through the Ages

Three historical landmarks that shaped modern attitudes to waste

Alexandra Spring discovers how three historical landmarks shaped modern attitudes to waste.

Alexandra Spring continues her exploration of how our relationship with rubbish has evolved through time at the foot of Monte Testaccio in Rome - a hill built of 53 million discarded olive oil amphorae, which were thrown away nearly 2000 years ago. She meets the architect Tom Rankin, who shares how this ‘dump’ is indicative of the Roman spirit to waste.

Moving through the decades, the historian Agnes Sandras takes Alexandra back to France in 1883, when Parisian Prefect Eugene Poubelle sparked public outcry by forcing citizens to buy a box in which they would place their waste. They discuss how this early form of a modern day ‘bin’, or ‘poubelle’ in French, shaped how people viewed litter.

Then, sharing her view on how our attitudes to waste have changed throughout the last century, professor of history Eiko Maruko Siniawer explains to Alexandra how a shift in ideology to embrace modern luxuries saw waste spiralling out of control at the end of the World War Two.
 
Producers: Chelsea Dickenson and Ben Cartwright.

(Photo:  A woman holds pieces of ancient amphorae at Monte di Coccio alias Monte Testaccio ( Mountain of Crock), in Rome. Credit: Getty Images)

The Compass: The History of Wastefulness

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

How our relationship with rubbish has evolved over time

Alexandra Spring explores how our relationship with rubbish has evolved over time.

Waste. Trash. Rubbish. 

Whatever you call it, there’s no escaping it. 

The world now throws away over two billion tonnes of waste every year. Unless we see drastic change, it’s predicted that by 2100, we’ll be producing three times as much rubbish as we’re doing today. 

Australian journalist Alexandra Spring is fascinated by this history of wastefulness, and how our relationship with rubbish has evolved over time.  

Across three episodes, she’ll discover how our current battle with rubbish has been shaped by our wasteful past and what we can learn from previous ages to inform a better future.

Image: Alexandra Spring looks up at bales of plastic recycling in San Francisco (Credit: Audio Always)

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