As a matter of fact, out of ninety towns with which I communicated on this subject only thirteen of them directed the removal of both trade and garden refuse without any special extra payment being made by the householder, and this is only done when these materials are placed in the ordinary dustbin or ashpit attached to a house. Several towns, however, it appears remove such materials on special payments being made of sums varying from 1s. 6d. to 3s. per load.
Disputes frequently arise between the men employed in scavenging and the householder on these vexed questions as to the difference between house, trade or garden refuse: a dispute often raised by the scavengers themselves, in the hope of obtaining a gratuity or reward for the clearance of a dustbin, which no doubt, legally, they are perfectly justified in refusing to empty; and in order to lessen the chance of such disputes and to attempt to settle this question, the following suggestions may be of value.
It would no doubt be vexatious if any sanitary authority were to absolutely refuse to remove the “garden” refuse from those houses to which a small flower garden was attached, whilst it would on the contrary be an unfair tax upon the general community if the refuse of large gardens was removed without payment. A good rule would therefore be to remove only such garden refuse as was contained in the ordinary dustbin or ashpit attached to a house, and that as the removal of any kind of trade refuse would no doubt lead to abuses if done gratuitously by the sanitary authority, that this material should only be removed on payment of some sum, which should be previously fixed by the local authority, and each case should be reported to the officer superintending the work before it was removed.
The next question is the important one of the manner and place in which house refuse shall be temporarily stored pending the visit of the scavenger.
The Public Health Act of 1875 enacts that: “Every local authority shall provide that all drains, waterclosets, earthclosets, privies, ashpits, and cesspools within their district be constructed and kept so as not to be a nuisance or injurious to health” (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 40).
And section 35 of the above Act states, “It shall not be lawful newly to erect any house or to rebuild any house pulled down to or below the ground floor without a sufficient watercloset, earth closet, privy, and an ashpit furnished with proper doors and coverings. Any person who causes any house to be erected or rebuilt in contravention of this enactment shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds” (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 35).
The same Act also gives power to local authorities to enforce provision of ashpit accommodation for houses where such accommodation does not already exist, and to frame byelaws with respect to ashpits.
There can be no doubt that the position of the dustbin or ashpit, as regards its site with reference to the main dwelling-house, is of primary sanitary importance, for if the garbage and domestic accumulations therein are allowed to remain for a few days, especially when the weather is close, damp, and warm, they become very offensive, and the emanations therefrom may even be highly deleterious and dangerous to health; this effect is aggravated by persons emptying vegetable refuse and other matters which are wet into the dustbin, as decomposition of these matters is greatly assisted by this addition, and it would be well that all such matters should be burnt on the kitchen or scullery fire along with a large percentage of the ashes which could be sifted and saved from those which too readily find their way into the dustbin, and are thus wasted. Care would of course have to be taken in this process that no smell or nuisance was caused by the process of burning.
It is open to considerable doubt if the fixed dustbin or ashpit is the best or most sanitary receptacle for the house refuse; they may be necessary and suitable for Public Institutions, or for large isolated private dwellings, or for schools or any places where excessive quantities of refuse may accumulate, but where this refuse is systematically and properly removed by the order of the local authority, at such times and in such manner as will be hereafter pointed out, moveable or portable dustbins, boxes or baskets are far preferable to the large immoveable, inconvenient fixed ashpit, recommended and enforced under the Act.
The next point to consider is that of the collection of the house refuse, which should be effected satisfactorily, economically and expeditiously.