Revenue from By-Products
Many cities as yet make no effort to secure and dispose of the by-products, which consist of metal, rags, paper, tin cans, bottles, and ashes; in others the problem is being studied seriously. In comparatively few considerable revenue is derived. Generally junk dealers are allowed to overrun the dump and select what they want. A few cities charge for this privilege, the price being determined by bidding. The cities which derive the most revenue are those which do the sorting and selling themselves.
The St. Paul Sanitation Committee came to the conclusion that 33 per cent. of rubbish has value and that of this salable material 80 per cent. is paper, 10 per cent. rags, 5 per cent. tin cans, 3 per cent. bottles and 2 per cent. is miscellaneous. It says further: “The best authorities agree that in cities of 500,000 or over the recovery and utilization of wastes may result in some profit, but in cities of less population the amount recovered will not warrant the construction of expensive plants to make the separation and recovery.” In the smaller places some revenue can usually be secured by letting out to junk dealers the privilege of picking over the dump.
It has been estimated that in New York City 48 per cent. of a ton of rubbish is worth $1.44 to the picking contractor and the remaining 52 per cent. is worth at least $1.25 when burned and transformed into electrical energy.
It has been suggested in one or two large cities that the unskilled and handicapped labor out of employment and seeking city aid be employed on dumps to pick out the unconsumed coal from the ashes screened automatically. Besides furnishing employment at any season of the year, it is claimed that coal in paying quantities could be secured for municipal consumption. This claim is based on the reports of experts who have analyzed ashes and found the amount of unburned coal to run as high as 24½ per cent.
In Passaic, New Jersey, the papers, rags, etc., are picked out at the dump by junk dealers. In Cincinnati, Ohio, the revenue from salable rubbish has been over $2,000 a year. Evanston, Illinois, which dumps its ashes on the river front, was compelled to find some way of disposing of its waste paper so that it would not scatter through the neighborhood. A baling press was put into service and it is reported by the city that excellent results followed. The city collects and bales the paper in both business and residential districts. The paper is placed in gunny sacks and these are hung just inside the alley gate, or barn or stable on the morning of the designated day. It is said this system (1) takes a day’s work each week from the routes of each of six men who collect rubbish on the east side of the city; (2) prevents the blowing of loose paper about the street and alley and in the neighborhood of the dump; (3) pays for the operation of the press and leaves a balance to aid the rest of the service. A man, employed eight hours a day, drives the wagon and presses the paper. Camden, New Jersey, which keeps its ashes separate, collects its rubbish and paper, and takes them to a sorting place. Prisoners in the city jail for minor offenses are kept busy sorting and baling the rags and paper. Nearly a million pounds of paper were baled and sold in one year. Cleveland in one year spent $230,000 for removal of its ashes and rubbish, and received $30,000 from the sale of the material sorted from its rubbish. The paper was sold for $5.60 a ton in bags at the plant of a boxboard company. Tin cans were sold for $5 a ton loaded on cars and delivered to a company making silk skirts. The metal, bottles, rags, etc., were sold to local dealers under competitive bidding. The rubbish not valuable was used for fill. The caretakers of dumps are expected to recover the salable portions of the rubbish. One of the small New York cities gives the privilege of sorting the dump to a man who in payment therefor acts as caretaker of the dump. A few cities sell their ashes to contractors for cellar floors and partitions in fireproof building.
The high prices paid for reclaimable rubbish since the war began and the demand of the Federal Government that nothing be wasted have caused many cities to give much attention to the matter of rescuing salable rubbish.
Cleveland’s specifications for picking the scrap materials from the various city dumps contain among other provisions the following:
“The successful bidder and his employees shall have free access to the dumps and shall have the exclusive right to gather and sell or remove the salable refuse, scrap and other waste material, except the soil, earth and ashes, for the period of one year; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to give the successful bidder the right to charge either the cities or other parties for dumping on such dumps.
“The Superintendent of the Division of Street Cleaning shall have complete supervision of the dumps and shall designate what material and refuse shall be deposited on the dumps and the manner and the places where such deposits shall be made; and should he deem it necessary shall have the right to place Street Cleaning Department employees on the dumps to supervise such dumping.
“The successful bidder shall shovel and level all refuse or materials and shall keep the dumps clean and free from nuisance of all kinds. He shall be responsible for all damages caused by the dumps and shall extinguish all fires which shall arise thereon.
“The successful bidder if he desires to store or pile upon the dumps any refuse, scrap or waste material, which he may gather shall pile or store it at places designated by the Superintendent of the Division of Street Cleaning or his employees and any material or stores so piled shall be removed within ten days (10) after the expiration of the contract, and if not removed within that time shall be the property of the city.
“The City reserves the rights to use the dumps for any purpose whatsoever in such manner as not to interfere with the picking, gathering and carting away of waste material by the successful bidder.
“The contractor shall pay to the city on or before the 15th day of each month, the amount due for the use of the dumps during the previous months. On failure of the contractor to make payment to the city within the specified time, The Director of Public Service may declare the contract forfeited and refuse the contractor the further use of the dumps and may hold the contractor and his surety for the full amount due the city.
“In case the contract is forfeited the city reserves the right and the bidder agrees that the city shall have the right to let out in the open market or otherwise, the use of such dumps, and if the price thereon realized is less than that specified in the contract with the successful bidder, the difference in price, together with any additional expense incurred in arranging for the letting out to other parties, will be charged to the contractor and his surety.
“Should it become necessary for the city to abandon dumping on any or all of the dumps herein specified, the city shall notify the contractor in writing that dumping is to be discontinued on such dump or dumps, and in such case the contract covering such dump or dumps is to be terminated with the closing of the dumps, and the contractor shall pay the city for any fraction of the month which he may have picked from such dump or dumps.
“The city reserves the right to reject any or all bids or part of any bid.”
The following specifications explain how Los Angeles, California, cares for its rubbish dumps and obtains a revenue:
“The service required by these specifications is to furnish facilities for disposing of the non-combustible rubbish collected from that portion of the city south of the summit of the Cahuenga Pass, north of Manchester Avenue, and east of a line parallel to and three hundred (300) feet distant westerly from Beechwood Avenue, in that portion of the city known as the Palms Annex, for a period of four years from April 20, 1917.
“The contractor shall maintain a dumping ground for the rubbish, which said dumping ground shall be accessible at all seasons of the year by one or more suitable graded and surfaced streets or roads. The location of the dumping ground must be such that in the opinion of the Board of Public Works it will not be unduly objectionable to the public.
“The unloading points within the grounds must be convenient of access for all vehicles used by the city for rubbish transportation.
“The rubbish will be brought to the dumping ground by the city, will be unloaded by the city at such readily accessible points as the contractor shall designate, and will, after unloading, become the property of the contractor.
“The contractor shall keep the dumping grounds in an orderly condition and shall so direct the dumping as to avoid congestion of vehicles or delay to same on the dump. He shall not use the dump for storing material in a manner which will interfere with the passage of the city’s vehicles.
“In case accidents or conditions beyond the control of the contractor temporarily deprive him of the use of his facilities for disposing of the rubbish the city will, upon notification by the contractor of his inability to receive it, dispose of it elsewhere, and charge the contractor twenty-five (25) cents per load of ten cubic yards for the disposal of same.
“In case the contractor fails to pay the city for the disposal of such rubbish from the hereinabove described district as the contractor is unable to receive the contract may be declared forfeited.
“Bidders shall name a price per month which they will pay for the privilege of having the entire output of non-combustible rubbish from the above described territory dumped on their ground.”