HOUSEHOLD WASTE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 120, 16 November 1929, Page 20

HOUSEHOLD WASTE

SCHEME FOR SALVAGE

TWO MILLION TONS YEARLY

The immense ; amount of household waste in 4he Greater London area has induced a young Glasgow man who is interested in one 'branch of reclamation, and who therefore realises the poten£ial wealth awaiting recovery, to placo a, scheme for salvage on a comprehensive plan before the Home Development Committee, (states an English paper). ■ The committee was appointed by Mr. J. H. Thomas to consider-applications for grants to public utility undertakings that would absorb numbers of unemployed. The reply of the committee that it .cannot consider the scheme at the present stage because a Departmental Committee is sitting to inquire, into certain aspects of the waste problem mentioned in the : recent recommendations of Mr. j. C. Dawes, Inspector of Public Cleansing, Ministry of Health. The work of the Home Development . Committee,:.moreover,; is likely to be delayed by the.death of .the chairman, Sir John Gatti, ..who, it is stated, had read of and been impressed by the possibilities of the sehpme. „ The author of the scheme, using; the figures of Mr. Dawes, points out : that! in Greater London the quantity.': of household refuse for disposal every year cannot be less than 2,000,000 tons. He: contends that, instead of allowing this refuse to be'dumpe/l in extensive heaps on the Thames-side in South Essex and along the canal in the Uxbridge area, a series of local collecting stations should be organised from which the refuse could be. economically transported in big wagons to some central disposal works ;o4 a Thames-side site.. \ : . At such a centre, the paper, rags,^ boners, tins,\metal, and glass should be1 sorted from the mass, and sent to speci-; ally constructed-factories on the samesite for treatment with a view to further use as raw materials.' For instance, the,author would-iisc' the clean paper .and-the rags to make! paper boards and "felt" ■ paper, the bones to make glue,"the tins for-- dotinning, the metal for smelting, afresh,*, and the glass for re-melting.' The remainder of the refuse,, consisting Sof ashes, vegetable matter, and dust,'would be incinerated, ;and the., heat, it is suggested,. could be used'ior! the generation of electricity. to' rmilitho.factories, supplying any' surplus .current -to the bulk distributors .under; the scheme of the; Electricity >..Commissioners. The residue of clinker frpmthe incinerator would be useful/in the .'manufacture of concrete slabs and pipes on /a big scale. In fact, nothing, not even the dust, would be' wasted. ■. ■ ' The-author of the scheme anticipates that the erection of the disposal plant and factories would- provide employment, directly or indirectly, for about 3500 men for a period of from five to seven years, and permanent work for 4000 people in conditions that could be made hygienically satisfactory. The cost of the first unit of factories he estimates at £1,500,000, arid, as there would be five units, some £7,000,000 or £8,000,000 of ,;■' capital expenditure would be necessary. He does not propose to make tho undertaking a muni-cipal-enterprise, .but to create a public utility corporation, under which interest on capital would be limited to 5 per cent, and the Balance of profit distributed among the municipalities who supplied the refuse: He claims that by this plan of treatment municipalities could save 10. per cent.-on their present disposal costs.. The author's estimates of the quantities of. material that could be ' reclaimed are as/follows: Paper, 179,694 tons; metal, 77,G06 tons; rags,- 33,976" tons; bones, 17,264 tons; clinker, 600,----000 tons. He suggests also tho organisation of a research department to investigate : potential uses for the following:—Fine dust: For briquettes and paving blocks; glass and jars, for remanufacture; vegetable matter, for pig-feeding and extraction of oils and fats; clinker, .for road-making, build: ing, kerb stones si> and pavement slabs. 'In the opinion of the originator! of the scheme it is possible. to run a large disposal works, such as he contemplates,only in;an area; where: considerable : supplies of refy.se are normally available. Cities like Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool,' by drawing on the supplies of the'local authorities adjacent to them- could, he maintains, deal in this way with their refuse. '