Smithsonian Channel - Trashopolis: Season One (2010)

Beneath the streets of every major global city lies a dark and ugly secret. It's the hidden ingredient that has transformed primitive outposts into wondrous metropolitan areas, forcing mankind into radical urban and architectural directions, propelling advances in science and jump-starting revolutions. From the majestic skyscrapers of New York City to the dank catacombs of Paris, the stunning ruins of Rome, the mysterious sewers of London and the bustling markets of Cairo, join us as we explore how these great cities fought against the tides of corpses, human waste and stinking garbage to rise above the rubbish.

Part 1: New York
When the Dutch buy Manhattan, the island is a swampy marsh. But trash, and enormous mounds of giant oyster shells, help build the New Amsterdam Seaport into the most profitable port in the New World. Garbage and recycling becomes big business – controlled by crooked politicians, and New York's most ruthless gangsters. A Civil War Hero creates the city's Department of Sanitation, and takes New York's trash back from the crooks.
Tens of thousands of New Yorkers die a gruesome death from cholera, spread by waste contaminated drinking water. Urban planner Robert Moses uses trash to build New York City's expressways, bridges, and parks. Organized crime extorts millions from businesses. The activist Freegans eat trash thrown out by the supermarkets. An artist stuffs trash into small plastic boxes and sells them as art. A 50 million dollar project in Brooklyn uses a new kind of trash to build a park on the shores of the East River.

Part 2: Cairo
Cairo is one of the biggest cities on the planet, and getting bigger by the day. In 50 years, the population has grown fivefold to 18 million. Each day the city accumulates about 25,000 tons of trash. In a land of narrow streets and donkey-drawn carts, how is it all picked up? And where does it all go? Take a junk-filled journey through time as we detail Cairo's 2,000-year battle with trash. It's a tale marked by slave labor, Black Death, haunted toilets and a modern-day city built from the trash of Africa's modern metropolis.

Part 3: Paris
When the walls of the city's largest cemetery collapse, decomposing bodies tumble out - and six thousand corpses are moved into the tunnels of the catacombs. Terrified by ancient beliefs, Parisians refuse to bathe - and develop the art of perfume to mask their body odors. The Chief of Police orders the streets to be paved, and streetlights to be installed. A Baron vows to rid Paris of its filth, and demolishes slums, creates the grand avenues of Paris, and builds hundreds of miles of new sewers. A Parisian invents the garbage can. 60,000 ragpickers create the world's most famous flea market. A band of modern day activists refuse to throw anything away, and turn trash into sculpture, and dead batteries and wine bottle corks into cash.

Part 4: Rome
Roman Emperors reflect the power and the glory of the Empire in their monuments, temples, fountains and aqueducts. Demons lurk below the public toilets. Slaves build the greatest sewer in the world. The Visigoths storm the walls and a millennium of darkness and despair decimates the population from one million to less than fifty thousand. The Roman Catholic Church regains the glory of ancient Rome by rebuilding the aqueducts, restoring the fountains, and passing new trash laws.
A zealous Pope "cleanses" the Jewish population, exiling thousands to a ghetto within the city walls - and restricting their occupations to trash collecting. Mussolini lusts for immortality - and attempts to associate his rule with the ancient Emperors by championing vast public works, and using slave labor. Modern day sanitation experts excavate Rome's oldest landfill. Rome's ruins compete for space with traffic circles and luxury hotels, and a new kind of visual trash begins to obscure the glory and beauty.

Part 5: London
The year is 43 AD. A Roman outpost on the banks of the Thames River, called Londinium, is rapidly expanding. Roman builders use trash to support the docks of the new port – today that trash reveals fascinating details of daily life in the ancient city. London prospers, and the constant struggle with trash generates huge public projects that alter the shape of the city and affect the lives of every Londoner. An Englishman invents the world's first toilet. Trash helps Britain win two World Wars but leads to the tragic deaths of thousands, by smog. Today, London continues to experiment with new ways of converting trash to energy, such as the construction of the world's largest trash incinerator.