Or perhaps Star Destroyers dump their trash because they are simply mobile warships that must resupply at bases.
The Death Star on the other hand is a base. The sheer volume of material it must go through boggles the mind. A compactor would be a first step toward recycling and reuse, separating solids from fluids. Not much arrives and not much leaves.
If the Death Star had to resupply constantly, the resources required to shed waste and transport a small moon's worth of resources would be astronomical.
We only saw the relevant military aspects of the station. There very well may have been enormous sections dedicated to foundries, growing crops, schools (a million folks stationed there and not even a few of the staff's kids accounted for?), etc.
Remember that in the US military, for every front line soldier, there are dozens of supply personnel, support operators, etc. Why would we believe the Empire including the Death Star to be any different?
Pearl Harbor was (is?) a fully armed and operational naval base in 1942, but the stories from individuals that survived the attack, did not come from soldiers alone. Officers have wives and children; government contractors require civilian lodging; owners of bars and leisure establishments need local banks, accountants, distributors, and legal representation.
All those innocent contractors hired to do a job were killed- casualties of a war they had nothing to do with.
All right, look-you're a roofer, and some juicy government contract comes your way; you got the wife and kids and the two-story in suburbia-this is a government contract, which means all sorts of benefits. All of a sudden these left-wing militants blast you with lasers and wipe out everyone within a three-mile radius. You didn't ask for that. You have no personal politics. You're just trying to scrape out a living.
The Death Star on the other hand is a base. The sheer volume of material it must go through boggles the mind. A compactor would be a first step toward recycling and reuse, separating solids from fluids. Not much arrives and not much leaves.
If the Death Star had to resupply constantly, the resources required to shed waste and transport a small moon's worth of resources would be astronomical.
We only saw the relevant military aspects of the station. There very well may have been enormous sections dedicated to foundries, growing crops, schools (a million folks stationed there and not even a few of the staff's kids accounted for?), etc.
Remember that in the US military, for every front line soldier, there are dozens of supply personnel, support operators, etc. Why would we believe the Empire including the Death Star to be any different?