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ABSTRACT Although an intrinsic part of our everyday routines, the dustbin's role as a mediator of changing waste practices has rarely been considered. As bins become reconfigured as environmental technologies for contemporary recycling programmes, is argued that they provide a revealing indicator of new waste relationships in society. These emerging relationships are explored by tracing through a number of past and present bin technologies, showing how they represent changing waste meanings, practices and responsibilities. The future of the bin and how adopting a bin-centred approach can help researchers and planners reconceptualize waste 'problems' and so reconsider waste management strategies are speculated upon.
Introduction
This paper explores the history and future of the domestic dustbin in the UK. At first sight, the dustbin represents a seemingly innocent container of household waste. As such it is not an especially interesting subject of study. Despite their innocent appearance, we argue that dustbins occupy a critical position in any narrative of waste management. Being situated at the interface of private lives and household practices, on the one hand, and public health and environmental management on the other, dustbin technologies provide a revealing indicator of waste relationships within society. In describing key moments in the history of domestic dustbins, from the development of the ashpit privy in the late 1800s through the standardization of moveable metal bins in the 1900s to the evolution of contemporary bin technologies, including the 'waste-guzzling' wheelie bin, and the more recent diversification of bins and waste types, we track both the meanings of waste, and the shifting boundaries of its public and private management over time. Put simply, this is a story of increasing specialization and of growing collective, if not public-sector, responsibility. In the 1800s, householders expected to burn most of their rubbish at home. The design and form of the moveable metal dustbin related to the introduction of central heating alongside the demise of the home fire, and to the parallel public provision of waste services. The development of recycling bins and of efforts to differentiate between waste fractions heralds the introduction of a new environmental theme into the narrative of waste management, bringing with it further questions about the division and allocation of public or quasi-public and private responsibility, with waste...