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In the quiet whisper of the past, humans lived in harmony with the Earth. They respected the land and understood the importance of maintaining a balance with nature. In ancient civilizations like the Maya of Central America, people would gather monthly to burn their garbage in large dumps. In the Fertile Crescent, around 6500 BCE, the first known wastewater management system was established in present-day Syria. They had a sophisticated gutter network within residences, which transported waste into ditches by the streets.

As the various civilizations around the world grew, so did their waste management techniques. The Ancient Roman Empire, for example, used a vast network of sewers, known as the Cloaca Maxima. However, this led to extreme pollution as the waste was emptied into the Tiber River. Pollution contaminated the drinking water, forcing the development of aqueduct technology.

Fast forward to the 20th century, the concept of solid waste management emerged from the past in the United States. By the 1930s, virtually all cities offered garbage collection services. Around the same time, a Dutch immigrant named Harm Huizenga began collecting trash in Chicago for a small fee. His grandson Wayne Huizenga, along with two other investors, had a vision to serve their community by properly managing the waste produced by a rapidly growing population consuming more and more products built for convenience.

However, as the world moved towards a culture of convenience, the amount of waste generated skyrocketed. Today, humanity generates about 1.3 billion tons of trash per year, far more than their current methods can properly process or recycle. This waste includes products of human  metabolism and digestive processes, including urine and feces and even menses. It is collected, transported, treated, and disposed of or reused depending on the quality and capacity of the sanitation system in place.

In developed cities, people tend to use flush toilets where the human waste is mixed with water and transported to sewage treatment plants. Unfortunately, many people in developing villages, small towns or even cities resort to open defecation where human waste is inappropriately deposited in the daily living environment due to a myriad of reasons. 

This increase in waste has led to environmental tragedies like ocean plastic pollution and geopolitical tensions as growing cities search for new places to hide their trash. It has also led to the extraction of unsustainable quantities of natural resources to keep pace with the growing consumption among other unsustainable practices.

While humans have made significant strides in waste management over the centuries, the shift towards a culture of convenience and disposability has led to an exponential increase in waste generation. It is crucial that humans learn about their waste habits and systems and work towards creating a more sustainable future. This includes rethinking consumption habits, improving waste management systems, and finding innovative ways to reuse and recycle waste. Humans have everything they need to solve these problems. Project Clean Up is dedicated to showing humans it is possible. Not only that, but they can clean up their respective fields including politics, science, art, business, construction, definitely waste management, and more. Humans do not have to change the world. We just need to be the change.

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