Some cities are successfully operating incinerating plants for the destruction of garbage and combustible rubbish; others have plants which burn the garbage and rubbish and a part of the ashes. Where ashes are burned they are collected with the rubbish and garbage in those districts nearest to the incinerating plant in order to reduce the length of haul.
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.