Until the end of the Middle Ages, waste disposal was limited to the removal of the coarsest garbage. There were complaints about unpleasant smells from the sewage that was drained from the bathhouses into the Warmen or Mühlbach in open channels. It was not uncommon for residents to erect drainage houses above them and discharge waste into them. From the 17th century onwards, the citizens therefore had to "clean out" the stream once a year.

The authorities only paid greater attention to keeping the streets and squares clean after Wiesbaden became the administrative seat and seat of the authorities in 1744. In 1770, the newly created police deputation issued a "street cleaning order", which stipulated that all streets and squares were to be cleaned twice a week. The so-called Priväts had to be emptied and taken out before daybreak due to the unbearable stench. In the summer months, all streets were to be sprayed with water twice a day to knock down the dust.

Daily sweeping was introduced in 1813. From the mid-1850s, ten to twelve day laborers collected the droppings of the draught animals in a small wagon until the evening. From 1854, efforts were made to award a concession to a contractor to clean the steps by using pumps without causing odor nuisance. The plans failed because it was not possible to agree on a suitable place for disposal. The city council was reluctant to respond to the government's demand to take over the city's waste disposal at its own expense. In 1877, an average of 30 workers were employed to sweep and pour. Under Lord Mayor Karl Bernhard von Ibell, the sweeping team was increased to 100. They also began to clean the main roads at night. In the following years, street cleaning and waste disposal were carried out by both public and private companies.

A lack of coordination led to major problems and hygiene issues. To counter this danger for the rapidly growing city, the public sector took over these tasks at the end of the 19th century. After 1912, refuse collection was privatized again. Around a dozen horse-drawn vehicles then took care of the removal of the waste containers.

In the mid-1920s, waste collection was automated. The charges for the disposal of household waste were between 1.5% and 5% of the rental value, depending on the size of the property. Apartments with a rental value of less than 300 marks were exempt from the charges. Until 1900, waste was only roughly sorted into glass, tin cans and broken glass. A few kilometers from the city, non-recyclable waste was dumped and biodegradable materials were handed over to agriculture. As this process proved to be increasingly impractical due to the increase in population, an incineration plant was built in 1906. Up to 18 tons a day could be incinerated there in the blast furnace.

The city was divided into sweeping districts, six of which were cleaned daily, e.g. in 1955, while the streets in the city center with the spa district were swept two to three times a day. In 1967, the city put a waste shredding plant into operation, which attracted the attention of experts from all over the world. In the 1970s, around 500 people were employed to clean the streets and dispose of the waste. In 1997, waste disposal and street cleaning were transferred to ELW, the city's newly founded in-house company, which is also responsible for Wiesbaden's sewer system and today (2014) employs over 700 people.