by Eanos on November 25th, 2010, 3:49 pm
I'd just add to this that I doubt that there is much in the way of trash as we know it. Things would only be thrown away if they were far beyond reuse, things that break or wear out would be patched, repaired or reused in some other way. Everything is far too valuable to be thrown away and there would be people who would rely on the recycling process to survive. If you look at third world cities (or even our own cities fifty years ago) there are people who will buy (for not much) what we consider trash and then sell it to those who can make use of it.
This would include 'night soil' for even ignoring the gun powder use which came later, things like urine were used for bleaching cloth.