Environmental economic history of night soil in the period of the industrial Revolution in England : urban waste recycling in The General View of the Agriculture

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  • 産業革命期イングランドにおけるナイトソイルの環境経済史 : 英国農業調査会『農業にかんする一般調査報告書』にみる都市廃棄物のリサイクル
  • サンギョウ カクメイキ イングランド ニ オケル ナイトソイル ノ カンキョウ ケイザイシ エイコク ノウギョウ チョウサカイ ノウギョウ ニ カンスル イッパン チョウサ ホウコクショ ニ ミル トシ ハイキブツ ノ リサイクル

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Abstract

Sustainability has been a growing concern from the viewpoint of environmental history. The purpose of this article is to examine the recycling process of night soil in the period of the Industrial Revolution in England. By investigating The General View of the Agriculture (1793-1818) and Parliamentary Papers, it is proved that night soil was removed from urban areas and applied to suburban agricultural land as fertilizer, and the transaction of night soil between urban and suburban areas was established as a commercial activity. This paper clarifies that this transaction system of night soil was sustained by three factors: (i) the organisation of disposal systems by urban local governments, (ii) the development of transportation systems between urban and suburban areas, and (iii) the growth of experimental knowledge of night-soil application among farmers. In conclusion, the night-soil transaction system promoted a nutrients cycle from urban areas to suburban agricultural lands and should be considered a precedent of sustainable society. This article sheds different light on an aspect of English society during the Industrial Revolution, which in conventional studies is often described as an unsustainable.

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