The subject of waste reclamation is too vast and intricate, albeit romantic and fascinating, to be treated within the scope of a single volume. Consequently I have confined myself rather to those phases which are familiar to the average person and to the losses which are incurred from their inadvertent destruction—losses which affect both the individual and the community in general. If it succeeds in acquainting the man-in-the-street and the woman at home with the enormous wastage, both of finance and kind, which are incurred in these most familiar fields during the course of the year, and persuades them to observe methods of thrift, a material contribution to the national wealth should be effected.
In the preparation of this work I have been extended liberal and courteous assistance from numerous sources. I am especially indebted to the War Office, the National Salvage Council, the Food Production Department, and the Paper Controller, also to several civic and municipal authorities, notably of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Bradford, and San Francisco. I have also been fortunate in securing valuable co-operation from several gentlemen interested in the waste problem, including Messrs. J. H. Pooley and James Macgregor, of Messrs. Ernest Scott & Co., Limited, of London, Glasgow, Fall River, Mass., U.S.A., Montreal, and Buenos Aires; Mr. Jean Schmidt, of Industrial Waste Eliminators, Limited, London; Winget Limited, London; Mr. H. P. Hoyle, of the Grange Iron Company, Limited, Durham; Mr. F. N. Pickett, Hove; and J. Grossmann, Esq., M.A., Ph.D., F.I.C., etc., as well as the Editors of the World’s Work and Chambers’s Journal, to all of whom I express my best thanks.
FREDERICK A. TALBOT.
Brighton, July 1919.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
|---|---|---|
| PREFACE | [5] | |
| [I.] | WASTE: ITS RELATION TO COMMERCE AND NATIONAL ECONOMY | [9] |
| [II.] | THE GERMAN CONQUEST OF WASTE | [23] |
| [III.] | SALVAGE FROM THE ARMY SWILL-TUB | [37] |
| [IV.] | THE RECLAMATION OF MILITARY ORGANIC WASTE | [50] |
| [V.] | INVENTION IN ITS APPLICATION TO WASTE RECOVERY | [63] |
| [VI.] | SAVING THE SCRAP FROM THE SEA | [80] |
| [VII.] | WINNING WEALTH FROM SLAUGHTER-HOUSE OFFAL, CONDEMNED MEAT, BONES, AND BLOOD | [100] |
| [VIII.] | TURNING WASTES INTO PAPER | [117] |
| [IX.] | SUPPLYING INDUSTRIES FROM THE DUST-BIN | [141] |
| [X.] | LIVING ON WASTE | [157] |
| [XI.] | POTATO WASTE AS AN ASSET TO INDUSTRY | [169] |
| [XII.] | CONVERTING NITROGENOUS REFUSE INTO SOAP | [183] |
| [XIII.] | TURNING OLD OIL INTO NEW | [196] |
| [XIV.] | BY-PRODUCTS FROM THE WASTE-BIN | [207] |
| [XV.] | THE LIFTING MAGNET AS A WASTE-DEVELOPING FORCE | [225] |
| [XVI.] | RECLAIMING 321,000,000 GALLONS OF LIQUID FUEL FROM COAL | [239] |
| [XVII.] | FERTILIZERS FROM WASTES | [249] |
| [XVIII.] | SAVING THE SEWAGE SLUDGE | [262] |
| [XIX.] | HOUSE-BUILDING WITH WASTES | [278] |
| [XX.] | THE FUTURE OF THE WASTE PROBLEM; POSSIBILITIES FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT | [297] |
Millions from Waste
CHAPTER I
WASTE: ITS RELATION TO COMMERCE AND NATIONAL ECONOMY
Extravagance is the inevitable corollary to cheap living. The expression “living” is used in its very broadest sense, and is by no means confined to the mere consumption of foodstuffs. If living be cheap the thousand and one attributes complementary thereto, from wearing apparel to creature comforts for the home and from raw materials to finished goods, must necessarily rule low in price. Under such conditions the very fact that it is cheaper, as well as easier and simpler, to incur a further capital charge, rather than to endeavour to induce additional service from what is already in hand, though possibly damaged slightly, prompts waste, in precisely the same way as it is more expedient to replace the damaged part of a standardized article, whether it be a motor-car, sewing machine, typewriter, or watch, than to attempt to carry out a repair.
The ready availability of a spare part directly encourages waste more or less. The convenience is provided at an attractive figure to appeal to the consumer, while to the producer it renders a higher proportion of profit than is attainable when it forms part and parcel of the complete finished article. The latter is not marketed at the aggregate of the prices of the integral parts, as one may promptly verify if they feel so disposed. From this it must not be imagined that replacement per se is to be condemned, except that it is often attended by the complete loss of the displaced and damaged part. Were the conservation of the removed part conducted the system would be deserving of whole-hearted support, because in this way the material of which it is wrought would be available for further use. Those firms which insist upon the return of a damaged section before they undertake to forward the replacement are pursuing a wise policy. It is true they consign the faulty or worn part to the junk pile, but, at intervals, the latter is turned over to the manufacturing interests to undergo further exploitation.