WASTE MATERIALS

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 239, 4 July 1940, Page 8

WASTE MATERIALS

Reclamation For Use Again

NATIONAL COUNCIL’S WORK

Waste matefial, or what in the past has teen regarded as waste material, is now something of definite value, even in New Zealand. The Government has decided that, for the future, as far as can be helped there shall be no waste. It used to be said that a German woman could keep a house going on what an English woman wasted. There may have been a grain of truth, in the saying in the past; but, from what can be gathered, it does not apply in England today, nor is it to be allowed to apply in New Zealand. Waste does not mean foodstuffs so much as it does those hundred and one things which people have been prone to throw away. Scrap iron and steel, scrap sheet iron, bits of copper, the zinc lining of cases, brass ends and filings, bottles, whole or broken, ancient kitchen ware, rags, old pots and pans, old newspapers, even paper refuse from offices and factories, in fact anything that can be reconditioned in any way for future service is to be gathered and the money realized from its sale passed on to the National Patriotic Fund.

Mr. Charles Todd, chairman of the National Council for the Reclamation of Waste Material, said yesterday that this body had been set up by the Minister of Supply, Mr. Sullivan. Its members were Messrs. A. E. Batt, J. W. Collins, J. M. A. Hott, J. R. Middleton, and J. Read. The council had been reviewing the position for the last fortnight and had worked out a scheme to cover the whole of the Dominion.

New Zealand had been sub-divided into eleven zones, and each zone would have its own provincial board, which would sit in the chief towns. The boards would te appointed by the city councils iu the cities and the county councils in the rural districts, that being done by the local body- concerned calling a meeting of representative citizens for the purpose. If necessary, other committees could be formed to control outlying districts (to be responsible to the provincial boards), so that the whole of the rural and urban area of the country would be covered. The waste materials required would be set out in a circular to be supplied to all boards, with full particulars as to method of collection. It would be necessary for boards to co-opt school teachers and school children, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, young farmers, and others to engage in the work of collecting and bringing the result of their labours to certain points where they could be gathered up and sent on to the factories that dealt with such material.

The council agreed with the Minister that those already in the waste material trade should in no way be interfered with.

Members of the council are to visit other centres within the next, few days to explain any details of tlie scheme. Mr. Todd, the chairman, will visit Christchurch and Dunedin.