Nothing Is Waste!

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6631, 9 June 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

Nothing Is Waste!

New Zealand Has Something to Learn from Glasgow’s Methods

Copyright.—THE SUM Feature Service.

HE day of harbour pollution and the reeking "tip” has long since passed. Modern scientific, methods of sewage and city refuse disposal'enable us to transform obnoxious and health-endangering waste material into wealth. New Zealand lags behind in this matter, but a start must soon be made The City of Glasgow has probably the best all-round cleansing and sewage disposal system of any city in the world, and the sanitary engineers and health officers of New Zealand would do well to follow the example of that city. Forty Years Ago It is more than 40 years since Glasgow abolished the dumping method. Prior to the adoption of modern mechanical and chemical treatment of all refuse and sewage the River Clyde had become practically an open tidal sewer which at times obtruded itself upon the olfactory senses in a very forcible manner ' Nothing is Waste The problem under the old dumping system is to get rid of the waste and the accompanying unpleasantness and disease by carting it away to “tips” and running it through pipes. But that is only shifting the dirt from one place to another. Removal is not enough. Under the new system, as carried out by Glasgow and some other cities, practically nothing _is wasted, nothing thrown away, nothing

destroyed but tbe obnoxiousness. But everything is transformed. From the sweepings of the streets, from the contents of garbage cans, from sewage, comes power to drive modern machinery in large workshops, valuable fertilisers of various sorts, chemicals, concrete, metals and other substances of commercial value. Waste? Nothing is waste! While the City Sleeps In Glasgow the streets are machineswept and hose-washed during the night. All household garbage and dustbins are cleared before business hours begin and a heavy line is imposed for leaving a dustbin on the streets after 9 a.m. The principal business thoroughfares, in additipu to being swept and hosed at night, are “picked” during the day, the sweepings being deposited in iron bins sunk in the pavements at regular intervals. These bins are emptied during the night by the mechanical sweepers. Separate collections of waste paper, trade refuse and stable manure are arranged. Paper is a marketable commodity and a source of considerable revenue to the department. For the convenience of business firms having a large amount of paper waste, bags are provided. Household refuse from tenements is deposited in covered receptacles kept in the back courtyard. These are removed during the night, the shed being cleaned by the collector and the full bin replaced by a clean, disinfected one. The night collectors work in comparative silence, being provided with rubber shoes. At Express Speed

The powerful motor-wagons which convey this refuse to the destructors and dispatch works (there are a dozen of these) are completely covered

so as not to soil the streets through which they pass, and once the load of refuse is received they race through the deserted streets at express speed to discharge it and return for another. To cleanse a city like Glasgow between midnight and eight o’clock in the morning requires speed and organisation. And to do this without disturbing tho sleeping populace is an accomplishment of no mean order. Transforming the "Dirt” After' collection, the process of turning all this waste into wealth (instead of dumping it or partly incinerating and partly dumping) begins. All refuse is subjected to a system of mechanical treatment of various sorts at different works. In the process of mechanical separation by means of endless carriers and riddling machinery, old tins, enamelware, iron, glass, bones, and so on, are picked oft. The old tins are “de-tinned” at the .works and sold in solid billets. By means of draining, sifting, mixing, incinerating and crushing, valuable fertiliser and concrete material are produced. The fertiliser, known as prepared city manure, finds a ready sale among farmers. The mechanically crushed and graded clinker which remains after incineration is also in great demand as a material for making fine concrete.

The departmental grainery and extensive workshops, where the vehicles of the department ar-e made aud repaired, are operated by modern machinery driven by power derived from the destructor furnaces. The department owns 700 railway wagons, and

these also are kept in repair at the workshops. Useless Bogland Made Fertile Material left unsold is taken to the half-dozen big farms owned and operated by the corporation, there to be utilised in improving the land. On these farms is grown all the hay required for the department’s large stud of fine Clydesdale horses, as well as great quantities of turnips, high-grade oats and other grains and vegetables. Hitherto useless bogland has been turned into rich agricultural land by the proper use of city refuse. More than one-quarter of the cost of general cleansing in Glasgow is met by revenue from the sate of the byproducts (fertiliser, etc.) of city refuse.

Sewage Works As with general cleansing, so with sewage. There is wealth in sewage. All sewage in the Glasgow area passes through biological filters and undergoes various treatments in the several large sewage disposal works. Many valuable chemicals are extracted in the process of clarification and a very valuable fertiliser is produced and supplied in pressed cake and also in powder form. About half a million tons of this fertiliser were sold in the first 15 years. The powder is known as “Globe Fertiliser,’ and brings a good price. A very interesting exhibit in the industrial section of the Glasgow Museum consists of a long row of stoppered glass containers which show the many valuable substances extracted from sewage. A certain amount of sludge which remains in the bottoms of the tanks, being of no apparent value, is loaded into a fast twin-screw steamer owned by the department and taken 60 miles out to sea, where it is discharged into 90 fathoms of water. That is the only dumping done by Glasgow. ALEXANDER SCOTT