In premodern times, waste was foremost a practical problem. It lay around, smelled bad and got in the way of people and vehicles. The rapid worldwide urban growth of the late 18th century went hand in hand with an increased awareness of the hygiene problems caused by waste, and the way these problems facilitated the spread of typhus and cholera. Now, however, rubbish is no longer just a question of urban cleanliness but a global environmental problem. In his global history of rubbish from early history to the present day, Roman Köster explores the causes of these developments and shows how the way we throw things away, dispose of them and recycle them has changed over the course of history.

• ‘Rubbish is our only growing resource.’ Hollis Dole, Undersecretary of State at the US Department of the Interior, 1969

• Human beings have always thrown things away

• Living with rubbish – from the time when nomadic populations became sedentary, to the present day

• How our approach to rubbish has shaped the face of our villages and towns – and the lives of their inhabitants

• A history of throwing away, disposing and recycling

• From the litter problems of ancient cities to the rubbish mountains of the present day