3. (1) Finding a good way to get rid of garbage is a problem that faces many municipalities today. (2) It may be of
some consolation for them to know that getting rid of garbage has almost always involved problems. (3) When
settlements were very small, garbage was simply thrown outdoors, where it eventually decomposed. (4) But as
communities grew, pigs and other animals helped clear away garbage by eating it; of course, the animals, in turn,
recycled that garbage and thus created an even less appealing garbage problem. (5) The first municipal effort to deal
with garbage was begun in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin, whose solution was to have it dumped into the
Delaware River. (6) A century later, municipal incinerators, generally located in the most crowded part of town, burned
garbage and produced the worst of odors as a by-product.