Humans have always generated trash. The trait could be considered inherent to our nature. But it is not only a trait of the 20th century.

How does today's waste compare with past civilizations' waste? It is difficult to be specific, according to Environmental Transportation consultant Roberta Barbalace in an Environmental Chemistry article. Until recently, trash quantity was calculated by volume rather than weight. "Volume is dependant upon how much the trash is compacted. Weight is influenced by moisture content, which varies greatly depending upon climate and weather conditions. The various studies that have been conducted vary too greatly to get a clear picture of per capita refuse per day," Barbalace notes.

As for modern landfills, now we have safer locations and operations, better designs and technologies, greater environmental protection, waste-addressing regulations and laws, and even reclamation and reuse. But things can always be better than they are. Case in point, things today are better than they were.

Below is a timeline of waste — from 6500 BC to the present — compiled via the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and various other organizations and research and provided by Environmental Chemistry and a National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA) report called Modern Landfills: A Far Cry From the Past.

6500 BC
North America: Archeological studies show a clan of Native Americans in what is now Colorado produced an average of 5.3 pounds of waste a day.

500 BC
Athens, Greece: The first municipal dump in the Western world is organized. Regulations require waste to be dumped at least a mile from the city limits.

New Testament of Bible
Jerusalem, Palestine: The Valley of Gehenna, also called Sheoal, in the New Testament of the Bible: "Though I descent into Sheol, thou art there." Sheoal appears to have been a dump that periodically burned outside of the city of. It becomes synonymous with "hell."

1388
England: English Parliament bars waste dispersal in public waterways and ditches.

1400
Paris, France: Garbage piles so high outside of Paris gates that it interferes with the city's defense.

1690
Philadelphia: Rittenhouse Mill makes paper from recycled fibers (waste paper and rags).

1842
England: A report links disease to filthy environmental conditions — "age of sanitation" begins.

1874
Nottingham, England: A new technology called "the Destructor" provides the first systematic incineration of refuse in Nottingham. Until this time, much of the burning is accidental, a result of methane production.

1885
Governor's Island, NY: The first garbage incinerator is built in the U.S. (on Governor's Island in New York).

1889
Washington, DC: Washington, DC reports that appropriate places for refuse are running out.

1896
United States: Waste reduction plants arrive in the U.S. (for compressing organic wastes); later closed because of noxious emissions.

1898
New York: New York has first rubbish-sorting plant for recycling.

Turn of Century
By the turn of the century, the garbage problem is seen as one of the greatest problems for local authorities.

1900
"Piggeries" are developed to eat fresh or cooked garbage. (In the mid-'50s, an outbreak of vesicluar exenthama results in the destruction of thousands of pigs that had eaten raw garbage. A law is passed requiring that garbage be cooked before it is fed to swine.)

1911
New York City: NYC citizens are producing 4.6 pounds of refuse a day.

1914
United States: There are about 300 incinerators in the U.S. for burning trash.

1920s
Landfills are becoming a popular way of reclaiming swamp land while ridding of trash.

1954
Olympia, Washington: Olympia pays for return of aluminum cans.

1965
United States: The first federal solid waste management legislation is created: the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965 (SWDA).

1968
By 1968, companies begin buy-back recycling of containers.

1970
United States: The first Earth Day is celebrated, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created and the Resource Recovery Act enacted.

1976
United States: U.S. Congress passes the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), emphasizing recycling and HW management. This is the result of two major events: the oil embargo and the discovery (or recognition) of Love Canal.

1979
United States: The EPA develops criteria for sanitary landfills and issues criteria prohibiting open dumping.

1984
United States: RCRA is amended and requires EPA to assess and, if appropriate, revise the sanitary landfill requirements.

1991
United States: The EPA establishes new federal standards for MSW (municipal solid waste) landfills, updating locational and operational standards and adding design standards and new requirements.

Today
The list goes on. Things are better, though an imperfect system exists.

For more, see the following:

Environmental Chemistry's The History of Waste (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)

National Solid Wastes Management Association's Modern Landfills: A Far Cry From the Past

MSW Management magazine's A Brief History of Solid Waste Mangement in the US During the Last 50 Years.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Milestones in Garbage: 1990–Present