Garbage

In the 1880s, material to be disposed of was divided into four general categories: ashes (derived from the burning of coal or wood), garbage, rubbish, and street-sweepings.

Rubbish, a broad category of dry goods including boxes, bottles, tin cans, or virtually anything made from wood, metal, glass, and cloth, could be transformed into new consumer products through a variety of reclamation methods.

[8] Notably, however, only a small fraction of garbage that is generated becomes litter, with the vast majority being disposed of in ways intended to secure it from entering the environment.

[9] The degree to which groups of early humans began engaging in agriculture can be estimated by examining the type and quality of animal bones in their garbage.

[9] Garbage from prehistoric or pre-civilization humans was often collected into mounds called middens, which might contain things such as "a mix of discarded food, charcoal, shell tools, and broken pottery".