Urban Solid Waste as Agricultural Fertiliser – a Viable Solution or a Relic of the Past? The Garbage Business in Prague from the 1880s to the 1930s

Abstract

The relationship between cities and their rural surroundings has been close and multi-layered since the Middle Ages. It has been systematically studied by historians, albeit primarily in economic, social, and cultural terms. The environmental factor did not come into play until the process of urbanisation and the emergence of modern metropolises. The city’s metabolism – the management of all types of waste – is a highly topical issue, yet it is typically viewed primarily through the lens of urban infrastructure and its functioning. This study is based on the fact that solid urban waste (street sweepings, household waste) was often used in agriculture as a fertiliser. This was also the case in Prague, which disposed of most of its solid waste by selling it to peasants in the surrounding villages until the system collapsed in the early 1930s. The study examines the shift in the relationship between the city administration, as the supplier, and agricultural buyers of waste fertiliser, as the demand side, from the 1880s to the 1930s. It explores the causes of the decline of this traditional, functional connection. Crucial factors in this context – setting aside hygienic and aesthetic considerations – were the dramatic increase in waste volume, which contrasted with the limited absorption capacity of the surrounding agricultural areas, the costs of waste transport, waste composition, and advances in agricultural technology (agronomy) associated with the increased availability of industrial fertilisers. Alongside the city’s modernisation efforts, farmers themselves played a significant role in the decline of the use of Prague’s urban waste in agriculture in Central Bohemia.