Before Rotterdam established its municipal waste service in 1876, the collection of waste was done by ‘karrelieden’. This job was usually done by the poor or by ex-convicts. It provided not nearly enough to pay the bills, but the upside of the job was that they could sift through the rubbish to take the things that they could still use or sell. Usually they left the streets more of a mess than before their visit, when they got what they could use they simply left the rest scattered behind.
When the municipal waste service took over they used horse-drawn carts. When the carts needed to be emptied they did so by tossing the rubbish in boats lying in the water below. Rotterdam, port city at your service.