Organization
It is agreed that the number and location of districts into which a city is divided must depend upon the size, topography and population, the location of sub-stations or the place of final disposal, the frequency of collection and the hauling equipment. It is also agreed that the divisions should be made with the purpose of shortening the haul as much as possible and to avoid steep grades with loaded wagons. Some cities haul direct from the district to the place of disposal, others establish loading stations or bunkers to which the garbage is hauled in wagons and from which it is taken for disposal in automobiles, train or trolley. Still others have loaded wagons taken to a central place and from there hauled by tractors to the place of disposal.
The type of equipment, system of collection, organization of city, location of receptacles, frequency of collection and hours of removal must be considered when organizing the force. These vitally affect the cost. Some cities require one man to act as driver and collector. This system is regarded as uneconomical as the whole collection is retarded. Other cities have two men with a wagon, one to drive and the other to collect. In some cities the gang system, described in the chapter on ash collection, is used.
The Chicago Waste Commission makes these recommendations to insure an effective organization:
1. Individual responsibility for work assigned.
2. Employees should be paid for work performed instead of for hours of labor.
3. Published records of employees individually by sections under foremen and by districts under inspectors or superintendents will create a healthy rivalry and conduce to better work.
4. Unit cost of all work should be maintained and the keeping of these records will more than pay for the cost of the clerical work involved.
All agree that special effort should be made to get intelligent drivers who are willing to take pains to do the work at each house in a cleanly fashion. Others urge keeping one man on the same route.
In planning districts and force, the findings of the Chicago Civil Service Commission may assist some officials. It required on an average under ordinary conditions three hours and fifty-five minutes to collect a full load of two and one-half tons. The average in summer was 3.9 hours and in winter 4.7 hours. The average rate of haul was 3 miles per hour in summer and 2.7 miles per hour in winter. Collections were at a minimum in winter and a maximum in summer, especially in September. The quantity collected from several districts for different years was not constant, but continually decreased or increased, depending upon local conditions, such as change of character of population, growth of residence, business and manufacturing. The fluctuations make it necessary that the organization be flexible and easily adapted to changing conditions.
As the quantity will vary from season to season, the collector assigned to a district should make daily reports of work performed and territory covered. By so doing it can easily be determined whether he is delinquent or the work has increased so as to require auxiliary equipment or extra assistance. The plan is also valuable for rearranging districts.
The Ohio State Board of Health has expressed the belief that the routes should be so arranged that each collector covers about the same mileage and so that each wagon is as near as possible to the point of disposal by the time the wagon is loaded in order that the productive time of the collector, or the time he spends in collecting from houses, may be as great as possible and his unproductive time, or the time he spends in driving his loaded wagon to the point of disposal, as small as possible. In some cities, owing to poor routing, the unproductive time has been as high as 40 per cent. of the collector’s working hours. Routes should also be so arranged that grades are climbed with light loads and descended with heavy loads.