Memu principal anglais
A question bound to the human presence
The waste was a long time the fruit of a natural action of the populations.
In the Prehistory, the first people left their rests - mainly of food - on the place of their consumption. The nature made the rest by decomposing these residues.
The Antiquity(Antique) testifies of a new consciousness of the waste with the appearance of "discharges". For example, the numerous amphoras which sprinkle the fund(collection) of the Mediterranean Sea, the museum pieces for the archaeologists and the elements of studies for rudologues1.
In the Middle Ages, the development of the business and the cities questions a precarious balance. All the waste is thrown to the street, invading the living space of the inhabitants. From then on, problems of hygiene appear, giving rise in épidémies2. The authorities try to fight against this plague, but the populations are more worried by their survival. Moreover, the first "salvage dealers-recyclers" are born, sorting out old rags, bone, to make paper, fat of candles.
1 The rudologie is the study of the waste, their management and their elimination (Small Robert). Since 1985, this new "science" studies our company from the waste, making his the principle according to which our waste testifies of what we are and of how we act.
2 The Black Plague makes 25 million deaths between 1346 and 1353.