people have thrown away waste in heaps for thousands of years. in modern homes and businesses, garbage is normally placed in waste containers of some sort. it is then moved to the streets, where it can be collected and taken to a place designed to hold, destroy, or recycle garbage. some waste materials, such as paper, wood, glass, metals, and plastic containers, can be recycled (reused). materials that cannot be recycled are either burned ("incinerated") or heaped into landfills.