WASTE PAPER SALVAGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25090, 4 December 1942, Page 4

WASTE PAPER SALVAGE

NOTABLE W.W.S.A. RECORD A notable record has been established by the W.W.S.A. waste paper salvage workers, both those who collect the paper and those who sort it before it is sent to the mills for re-pulping. There is not much glamour about pushing a handcart along hilly streets, and loading it with heavy sacks of paper, or in listening to the complaints of people who expect their waste paper to be called for with the utmost promptness and regularity. But there are upwards of CO women who undertook last April to do this work, and they have worked at it faithfully and hard ever since. Their efforts have been responsible for. sending to the mills thousands of sacks of paper which would otherwise have been burnt under the copper. Work of the Sorters A large number of the paper sorters, too, have kept steadily at work, for two, three, or even five days a week, since April. It is estimated that of the 337 tons of paper forwarded to the mills from the Waste Paper Depot in Dunedin between April and December, over 170 tons literally passed through the hands of The W.W.S.A. sorters. Their sorting is done so well that officials at the paper mills state that sorted paper received from the Dunedin depot requires no resorting or further handling as does all other paper on its arrival at the mills. In addition to the value of the service the women have thus given to the nation in helping to provide the paper and cardboard needed for military, civil, industrial and domestic use, the collectors and sorters have helped to swell the sum which the Salvation Army has paid to the Otago Provincial Council from the proceeds of the sale of waste paper. The net amounts so paid during the past eight months have averaged approximately £ 100 a month, giving a total of over £ISOO. Although credit for this remarkable contribution must be shared with the Salvation Army and its workers, the W.W.S.A. collectors and sorters were undoubtedly responsible for considerably Increasing the supply of paper, and adding to its value. It will be obvious to everyone that these voluntary helpers are doing really worthwhile work and are deserving of the Utmost help and co-operation which can be extended to them. Hints to the Public Members of the public, both men and women, could assist In the following directions:—By keeping their waste paper clean and free from foreign matter; by using, as far as possible, their own initiative and resource for getting it to the depot at 208 Crawford street, by offering the use of empty buildings for assembly depots: and by volunteering both to collect and to sort. Especially required during the next fortnight are additional sorters, male or female, for there is a large accumulation of paper which it is desired to clear away before the W.W.S.A. sorters take a welldeserved month’s holiday from December 18 onwards. All able to help in any capacity by day, or in the evenings, are asked to telephone the depot, 14-441, without delay.