RUBBISH DISPOSAL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 111, 23 April 1936, Page 4

RUBBISH DISPOSAL

Kiln for Burning Paper and Other Material SAVING TO COUNCIL At present under construction is a kiln which it is anticipated will result in a substantial annual saving to the borough and at the same time solve a difficulty that faced the works department of the Hastings Borough Council in connection with the disposal of rubbish—a service which is, at present, being carried out in Hastings out of ordinary revenue and not by a special levy or even rate, as is the case in most other towns and cities in New Zealand.

The particular part of the rubbish removal scheme that presented the most difficulty was that of the destruction of paper and other packing material collected from the business area. The trouble has been that it is not possible to bury this class of rubbish , as is being done with the remainder of the borough collection. When brought to the dump and emptied out of the trucks, the paper and light packing materials are quickly scattered about by even the lightest breeze. For this same reason it has not been possible to burn it, as there was the added danger that the paper, if stacked and burnt in the open, might be scattered about and in dry weather cause grass fires. During the past few months the borough staff has had to use the destructor at Joll road, and though this has certainly disposed of the paper and waste it has meant working in two separate places. It is estimated that the rubbish to be burnt that comes from the business area alono is between seven and eight loads a day, and the amount is on the increase. Consequently the job of burning is a big one, and as the destructor is practically hand-fed it can be imagined the task is long and tedious one.

Various suggested schemes were tried out but proved unsuccessful. Eventually the borough engineer (Mr C. E. Evans) hit upon the idea of a kiln, which was constructed on the principle of a household rubbish .burner. A temporary construction, 15 feet by 15 feet and more than 12 feet in height, was erected at Stoneycroft. Though an unpretentious structure of old corrugated iron and metal posts and props, it served the purpose, however. Experiments were tried out to determine whether it would be possible to burn the whole of the day’s collection, half of it, or just one load at a time.

The outcome of these experiments was the decision of the council at its last meeting to erect a permanent receptacle at Stoneycroft, where all the other borough rubbish is being disposed of, and shortly the whole of the borough’s refuse will be destroyed in the one locality, instead of in two as at present, The outlay incurred in the erection of the kiln is very small, and will bo returned to the borough within a few months, for the saving will be in the vicinity of £250 a year.