1200-1700 The Black Plague
The most dangerous disease to ever hit mankind broke out around 1350. “The Black Plague,” killed 25 million people in just 5 years. People were very uncivilized in Europe, war was common, and anything that could be re-used was not wasted.
Around this time Britain introduced their first garbage men, perhaps the first official garbage men in history. They called themselves “rakers,” and their job was simply to rake up the trash, into a cart, on a weekly basis. These men forged the way for the future of the garbage man. You can imagine trying to clean a filthy city, enduring tough physical labor, and trying to stay healthy while doing it.