my mistake: garbage can (1906) not garbage pail

[Michael McKernan]

>Barnhart <barnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM> wrote:
>Thus far, garbage pail (1885) is far older than garbage can:
>
>Put away the milk at once when it is served [delivered?]. In five
>minutes, an authority says, milk that is left uncovered and standing near
>any drain or on the bricks by a garbage pail will imbibe enough impurities
>to make it spoiled for baby's use.
>_The Standard_ [Albert Lea, Minn.] (NewspaperArchive.com), Aug. 12, 1885,
>p 2
>
>garbage wagon (1882):
>
>The city garbage wagon has been discontinued, and hereafter those who have
>been benefited by it will have to provide for themselves.
>_Davenport [Iowa] Daily Gazette_ (NewspaperArchive.com), Nov. 16, 1882, p 7
>

I remember that some US cities had in-ground receptacles for garbage pails,
which were set in sidewalks (e.g. 'on the bricks' etc.) and had
foot-operated covers.  Home food garbage (not trash) was set in pails in
these containers, and emptied by the city garbage collectors on a schedule.
I assume the garbage was fed to pigs in some places...
This system was used in my father's hometown, Lynn, MA, into the 1960s, I
believe.

Michael McKernan