Residential Incinerators Were Once Common

An amazing find in a beautiful large hundred year old house in Oakwood was a real piece of history and in good condition.
Down in the basement was what appeared to be a fully functional incinerator. It would have been used for disposing of household garbage by burning it at high temperature in the days before there was a good garbage collection service.
Unfortunately in days gone bye trash was burnt with no regard to pollution in the air.

Home incinerators were a sought after commodity in the early 1900’s in wealthy homes, some units could burn the trash and also help heat the house.

According to the EPA the first commercial US incinerator was built in 1885 on Governors Island in New York, NY. By the mid-20th Century hundreds of incinerators were in operation across the United States until the 1960s when more was learnt about the environmental impacts of the water discharges and air emissions from these incinerators.

NOTE: This incinerator is no longer being used and would no longer be legal to use, just a great conversation piece in the basement!