The idea of generating electricity from garbage is certainly not
new as can be seen here in an excerpt from the 1905 publication,
Heat and Light: From Municipals Waste. Electricity From Garbage
The first consideration with all municipalities should be the
safety and health of its citizens, and next, to secure for them
at a reasonable cost those necessities controlled by public
grants. There is no more serious menace to the health of any
community than its refuse, nor a greater necessity to the
comfort and welfare of its citizens than plenty of heat and
light at a moderate cost. [see here items that were being
recycled from a New York refuse site in 1899] For the last
twenty-five years this country, like all other countries, has
been trying to meet these requirements of its citizens, by a
better system of garbage disposal, and by more heat and light at
less cost. What has been the result of these efforts, I have
attempted to set out in this work, without bias, and –with but
one purpose in view, that of calling