Coal fires seen as poor incinerators

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32589, 24 April 1971, Page 18

Coal fires seen as poor incinerators

Coal merchants should realise that people were becoming much more conscious of air pollution, and if the merchants encouraged the use of coal fires as incinerators for all wastes that would burn, it would ultimately be to the disadvantage of the image of coal as a fuel, the president of the Clean Air Society (Mr P. V. Neary) said yesterday hi a supplied statement Various heating and fuel supplements published recently indicated a much greater degree of concern about the problem of air pollution, but the information offered by the coal industry, although it did emphasise the need for efficient combustion, claimed an advantage of coal fires as a convenient method for disposing of rubbish, Mr Neary said. “It is a know fact that most household chimneys are unsatisfactory from an aerodynamic viewpoint, and are not tall enough to emit their effluent without downdraughts taking the 'fumes

into their neighbour’s yard,” be said. “We would advise against the disposal of all offensive rubbish in home grates in the city area. The burning of bones, for example, sometimes creates a foul odour that lingers around for hours; and the habit of wrapping waste vegetables in small bundles usually solidly damp—prevents rapid combustion when the wet bundles are pushed down into the fire. “Actually, it is quite satisfactory to wrap bones in newspaper and put these into the dustbin. Vegetable waste is best composted, and if it must be burned should be as dry as possible and fed into the fire in small amounts,” Mr Neary said. "The coal industry should make it clear that it is only suggesting the burning of rubbish in areas where houses are built on plenty of land. In densely populated towns the horrible odours arising from poor incineration on the coal fires will be blamed on the coal itself, instead of the rubbish.” •