MILLIONS FROM
WASTE
BY
FREDERICK A. TALBOT
Author of
“The Building of a Great Canadian Railway”--“Inventions
and Discoveries”--“The Steamship Conquest of the
World”--“The Oil Conquest of the World,”
&c., &c.
PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN LTD.
1920
(_All rights reserved_)
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
PREFACE
The reclamation and exploitation of waste products for a variety of
industrial uses constitute one of the most fascinating and increasingly
important developments in modern industry. It is a subject of which
very little is known outside privileged circles, and the possibilities
of which are but scantily appreciated by the average individual.
The purpose of this volume is to indicate certain of the most obvious
channels through which wealth incalculable is being permitted to
escape, as well as the narration of something concerning the highly
ingenious efforts which are being made to prevent such wastage. While
written essentially for the uninitiated reader, the hope is entertained
that it may prove of certain service to those who are fully alive
to the potentialities of refuse of every description, and who are
endeavouring to redeem the country from the charge of being wantonly
extravagant in its use and consumption of raw materials, both edible
and industrial.
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.
It is also somewhat significant to record that improvidence is
intimately associated with cheap labour. Cheap living and cheap
labour go hand-in-hand. As a matter of fact, until recently the
average working members of the community, from the comparative point
of view, have been guilty of greater improvidence than those who are
well-blessed with this world’s goods.
This apparent anomaly is readily explicable. In the houses of the
wealthy the accumulation of residues of every description must
necessarily attain imposing dimensions. But these wastes are not
lost to commerce and industry. In the majority of cases they are
handed over to the employees by whom they are regarded as legitimate
perquisites. To gratify some individual whim, passing fancy, or from
inherent tendency to bargain, these residues are carefully garnered
and harboured to be converted into cash through one or other of the
many purchasing channels which appear to diverge to these centres. The
cooks dispose of bones, fats, and greases, as well as other wastes from
the kitchen, to the itinerant rag-and-bone merchant; rejected wearing
apparel finds its way to the wardrobe dealer; worn-out copper, iron
and aluminium culinary utensils, as well as divers other metallic odds
and ends gravitate to the specialists in old iron and waste metals;
superfluous produce from the kitchen garden meets with profitable
distribution, while even the swill is able to command its market.
It is the opportunity to profit in pocket from such “extras” which acts
as the incentive to collect, separate and to bargain for the sale of
wastes from a pretentious house. But, as the social scale is descended,
the tendency to keep a tight hand upon the refuse suffers unconscious
relaxation. This is primarily due to the fact that the volume of such
accumulations undergoes attenuation as the social ladder is descended.
As the bulk diminishes so does the impression, “Oh! it is not worth
while troubling about!” become accentuated. Finally, when we reach the
bottom of the ladder--the average working household--the quantity of
waste is considered to be so trifling as to be deemed quite unworthy
of consideration. Consequently, here we find the whole, or at least 90
per cent., of the refuse consigned to the fire, or to the rubbish heap,
instead of being preserved and turned into a profitable channel to
receive a new lease of utility.
As with the home so with the office and factory. The small workshop
or business establishment accommodated within one or two rooms
records its proportion of waste, but it apparently is so slender as
to be comparatively insignificant. Furthermore, as a rule, it is so
varied as to aggravate the thought of being more nuisance than it is
worth. Accordingly, the refuse is neither sorted nor retained, but,
especially if it be combustible, meets with an untimely end. On the
other hand, in the large factory, the accumulations being of distinct
magnitude, segregation and careful retention are observed to facilitate
ready sale, while arrangements are even completed for the periodical
clearance of the refuse at mutually satisfactory if not prevailing
market prices. Whether the waste ever commands its real intrinsic value
is a matter of opinion, because we have never been persuaded to regard
the residue disposal problem in the strict commercial sense.
Reflection gives rise to the question--What is waste? A more
appropriate explanation than a paraphrase of Palmerston’s famous
dictum concerning dirt would be difficult to find. Waste is merely raw
material in the wrong place. In the spirit fostered by our traditional
improvidence we have sought to adapt another existing term to meet the
situation. We glibly dismiss waste as rubbish. It is not, but because
we have been too indolent to occupy our minds in the elaboration of
further possible applications for what we do not actually require
for conduct of the operations with which our individual exertions
are identified, we seek to satisfy our consciences in the easiest
manner. In so doing we essay to flout a fundamental law of Nature--the
indestructibility of matter. We have failed to appreciate that what may
be of no immediate value to ourselves may, indeed can, with judicious
and scientific handling be persuaded to serve in the capacity of
indispensable raw material to other ranges of endeavour. It may even go
so far as to supply the wherewithal for the creation of new industries,
widening the possible fields of employment, and contribute pronouncedly
towards the wealth of the nation.
This fact can be brought home very conclusively. In the opening days of
this century the amount of fats, oils, and greases which were allowed
to run to waste was colossal. They were cheap commodities and, although
they occur in greater or lesser degree with the majority of organic
materials in popular request, not a thought was expended upon the
possible losses which their discard with so-called wastes represented.
But, during the past few years, the demand for these substances has
advanced by leaps and bounds. They have become vital to the table
in several forms, and this request has brought the food-producing
industry into conflict with another trade of far-reaching importance,
namely, the manufacture of soap. The situation is rather peculiar, as
I point out in a subsequent chapter. Some idea of the volume of fats
absorbed in the preparation of margarine and soap, respectively, may be
gathered from the narration of the fact that one of the largest soap
manufactories in the world demands the supply of fat in a steady stream
of about 5,000 tons per week.
A few years ago the activities of this particular firm were
concentrated upon the manufacture of soap. It was the solitary product.
But it had its attention attracted to the growth and possibilities of
the margarine trade, and it decided to enter this market. To-day, its
activities are divided between the production of the two commodities,
and, curiously enough, almost equally. From its works issue out about
6,000 tons of soap and 4,000 tons of margarine every week.
This merely represents the endeavours of one firm. There are scores
of others following a similar line of action. The result is that the
demand for fats has reached an unprecedented level. At the moment of
writing the coarsest grade of fat is able to command approximately
£50--$250--a ton. Is it surprising therefore that every effort should
now be made to extract the fats, grease, and oil associated with every
form of organic waste, and that keen effort should be made to secure
increasing quantities of waste capable of yielding this material?
So far as the public is concerned this spirited search for fat may be
regarded with misgiving, if not absolute alarm. The wizardry of the
chemist is acknowledged, and the thought possibly prevails that much
of the fat now being turned into margarine is really only fitted for
the production of soap. But alarmist or pessimistic feelings in this
direction may be speedily allayed, though it is permissible to point
out that ten years ago much fat was turned into the cleanser which
should have been utilized as a foodstuff, inasmuch as its freshness
and wholesomeness were above all criticism. It was merely turned over
to the soap-maker because no alternative application was apparent.
But conceding the magical qualifications of the chemist, there are
some feats which yet remain beyond his powers. The ability to turn
bad fat into good for dietetic purposes must be numbered among those
achievements which as yet have proved impracticable. If a fat be rancid
it cannot possibly be reconditioned for edible purposes. No matter how
its preparation may be coaxed and nursed it cannot be converted into a
foodstuff. The palate would detect rancidity instantly. Consequently,
only the highest grades of animal fat are used for the preparation of
margarine; the fact that the big-scale production of a food should
have been embraced by the soap-maker merely represents one of those
inexplicable coincidences of industry.
It is distinctly interesting, if not actually amusing, to follow what
may be described as the utilitarian conjugation of waste. It remains
an incubus, if not an unmitigated nuisance, until the chemist, or some
other keenly observant individual possessed of a fertile mind, comes
along to rake it over and to indulge in experiments. Such efforts
are often followed with ill-concealed amusement. A few years since
they were even regarded as so much waste of time. In due course some
definite conclusion is reached, and the fact becomes driven home that,
if such-and-such a process be followed a particular spurned refuse
can be utilized as raw material for the production of some specific
article. Then scepticism and amusement give way to intense interest and
speculative rumination. The new idea is submitted to the stern test of
practical application upon a commercial basis, while the financial end
of the proposal, which is the determining factor, is carefully weighed.
These complex issues being satisfactorily settled the exploitation
of the erstwhile waste, or rubbish, is energetically pursued. It has
now become a potentially valuable by-product, and, accordingly, must
be worked for all it is worth. Firmly entrenched upon the market
development is vigorously pursued, often to culminate in the quondam
waste, now an established by-product, being lifted to such a position
of commercial eminence as to dispute premier recognition with the
staple in the production of which it is incurred. In more than one
instance the by-product has even eclipsed the primary product, or at
least attained a level of equal importance, while occasionally the
staple has even suffered virtual deposition to rank as little else but
a by-product. There are even some cases on record where the manufacture
of the staple has been abandoned, at all events for a time, because
the by-product, the former incubus of the industry has become invested
with such far-reaching importance as to demand the concentration of
effort upon its production. Waste--by-product--staple: such constitutes
the brief evolution of more than one of the world’s leading lines of
trading.
Many instances of remarkable topsy-turvydom in this connection might
be cited. Possibly one of the most impressive illustrations in this
respect, although the transposition is not yet quite complete, is
offered by coal-gas. When Clayton first demonstrated the practicability
of extracting illuminating gas from coal commercialism feverishly
set to work to exploit the gas, and gas only. But the gas proved to
be associated with a variety of substances which threatened the very
future of Clayton’s discovery. Ammonia fumes poisoned the atmosphere
of the room in which the gas was burned to the grave danger of
the health--even lives--of the occupants according to the cynics,
critics, and caricaturists of the day. The tar carried in suspension
in the gas was every whit as exasperating because it condensed in the
mains to choke them. Ammonia and tar became the bane of life to the
gas-engineers of the period, harassing them to the verge of endurance,
while the elimination of the two deleterious substances involved the
expenditure of enormous sums of money and prodigious thought.
What is the position to-day. Gas, the staple product from the
distillation of coal three-quarters of a century ago, now, to all
intents and purposes, is the by-product. The world could roll along
very comfortably without it. Indeed, we may have to do so in the near
future when the gas is stripped of every other marketable constituent,
leaving only a mixture of methane and hydrogen gases to be burned under
boilers to raise steam for the generation of electricity in enormous
bulk. The ammonia which formerly jeopardized health and lives, and to
remove and to throw away which the pioneer engineers strained every
nerve, is now trapped to be converted into fertilizer. Then the tar
which likewise nearly drove the engineers frantic is now carefully
drawn off, collected and resolved into a host of wonderful articles to
furnish a diversity of indispensable materials. It would be wearisome
to recite the list. It is so lengthy. But it would seem as if the
by-products of coal touch every other industry, ranging from dyes to
chemicals, flavourings to disinfectants, perfumes to therapeutics and
soporifics.
As with coal so with oil. Forty years ago the boring of a well was
followed with mixed feelings by the indefatigable driller. A “strike,”
while devoutly to be desired, was just as likely to bring dreadful
disaster swift and sudden, even death, as wealth untold. The driller
probed the earth animated by one idea. This was to tap the subterranean
lake of crude petroleum. But in driving his bore the driller invariably
crashed through the roof of an underground reservoir of petroleum gas.
Ignorant of the value of this product, though painfully aware of its
danger if allowed to break away and to get beyond control, the early
seekers for oil led this gas through a pipe to a point some distance
away. There the flow from the open end was ignited and the gas allowed
to burn merrily in the open air. The driller knew no peace of mind
until the flame flickered and expired as a result of the exhaustion of
the subterranean gasometer. Then, and not until, he could resume his
boring for the precious liquid with complacency.
But with passing years and progress came enlightenment. The gas is
no longer wasted; it is trapped. In some instances it is led through
piping for hundreds of miles to feed hungry furnaces engaged in the
making of steel and other products. The earth is even being drilled,
not for petroleum, but for its huge supplies of natural gas, and the
huge reservoirs thus discovered are being harnessed to the thousand
wheels of industry. We even find trains fitted with cylinders carrying
natural gas stored under high pressure to furnish light for the
convenience of passengers, and to enable dainty meals to be cooked in
the kitchens of the dining-cars.
The oil refineries, upon receiving the crude petroleum, set out to
recover as much paraffin as they could. This was the primary product,
because a brilliant British chemist, Young, had discovered how to
distil paraffin from petroleum for lighting, heating, and cooking.
It represented a huge advance upon the lamp dependent upon whale oil
and the tallow dip. But before the refiners could reach the paraffin
they were called upon to wrestle with a lighter spirit which sorely
harassed and perplexed them. It was extremely volatile, and highly
inflammable--even explosive in the vapour form when mixed with air--and
accordingly was construed into a menace to the refinery. It was
carefully drawn off and dumped into large pits, where it was burned
merely to get rid of it. Its commercial value was set down as nil. A
certain quantity was used by laundries and dry-cleaners because of its
striking cleansing qualities, but it was used sparingly and cautiously
owing to its dangerous character. It could be purchased only with
difficulty, and in small quantities by the members of the public, the
retailers for the most part being chemists and druggists. If one were
glib of tongue and a master of the persuasive art, one might succeed in
obtaining as much as half-a-pint in a single purchase.
Suddenly a creative mind evolved the high-speed internal combustion
engine, which heralded the coming of the motor-car, the submarine, and
more recently the aeroplane and airship. The volatile spirit which
hitherto had been spurned and burned wastefully by the refineries was
immediately discovered to be invested with a value which had heretofore
escaped attention. It formed the ideal fuel for the new motor.
Forthwith wanton destruction of the volatile spirit was abandoned.
Every drop was carefully collected, and, as time went on and the
demand for the light liquid fuel increased, the refiners put forth
greater effort to wring every possible dram of petrol from the crude
petroleum. Paraffin, which had hitherto been regarded as the staple,
was ignored. It even dropped in commercial estimation as a by-product
and became a drug on the market, although, fortunately, the refineries
hesitated from repeating the practice they had honoured in regard to
petrol--summary destruction by fire.
So insistent and overwhelming has grown the demand for petrol that
the producers are hard put to it to keep pace with the requirements.
A petroleum boom has reverberated around the world, eclipsing in
intensity any stampede identified with the search for gold. To these
islands the petroleum age has contributed very little wealth, although
it has been responsible for revived interest in the exploitation of
our shale--another form of waste--but to Russia, the United States of
America, Mexico, and the East, where the earth reeks with petroleum, it
has brought wealth untold. It has completely transformed the economic
outlook of certain nations, and in some instances has served to rescue
a country from bankruptcy. To us it is of appreciable significance
because, so far, we have been compelled to draw upon distant sources
for our requirements and so have to contribute to the national wealth
of others, some of whom are our most spirited rivals in trade.
In 1913 our imports of petroleum products aggregated 488,106,963
gallons, valued at £10,856,806--$54,284,030--the contribution
from Greater Britain being 22,172,701 gallons, valued at
£829,868--$4,149,340. Of this enormous volume 100,858,017 gallons
represented petrol for our motors--the waste product of forty years ago
at the refineries--for which we had to pay £3,803,397--$19,016,985. In
the year when mechanical road propulsion was ushered in petrol could
be obtained for about 4d.--8 cents--a gallon: in 1918 it commanded
3s. 6d.--84 cents--a gallon. An increase of over 900 per cent. in
value within approximately 35 years represents no mean achievement in
commercial expansion, but when it relates to an erstwhile waste product
the record is far more sensational.
To relate all the fortunes which have been amassed from the
commercialization of what was once rejected and valueless would
require a volume. Yet it is a story of fascinating romance and one
difficult to parallel in the whole realm of human activity. It was the
waste energy of water which laid the foundations of Lord Armstrong’s
fortune and the enormous fabric of the huge firm on Tyneside. Sir
Hiram Maxim revolutionized warfare by harnessing the wasted kick or
recoil to reload and fire his machine-gun, thereby introducing one
of the most formidable small arms ever devised to conduct the gentle
art of killing. Lord Masham established a new industry and became a
millionaire by taking the “chassum” or silk waste--a refuse which had
even suffered rejection as a manure because it took such a long time
to rot--and utilizing it as a raw material for the production of a
new and wonderful range of beautiful fabrics in velvet and plush. It
was another textile wizard, Sir Titus Salt, who perfected the process
for turning the wool sheared from the back of a member of the camel
family roaming the heights of the Andes, and which was classed as sheer
rubbish, into the soft glossy fabric known as alpaca.
But one of the most powerful expressions of the possibilities attending
the scientific utilization of waste, and one which brings home very
forcibly to us the national wealth to be won from refuse, is associated
with our woollen industry. Where would Yorkshire be without mungo or
shoddy? Dewsbury has become the world’s centre for the disposal of
old clothes and woollen rags. Here converge all the streams bearing
abandoned flotsam and jetsam into the preparation of which wool has
entered. There is scarcely anything more disreputable, if not actually
repellent, than a sack of woollen rags. But pass that waste through
suitable machines and a wonderful transformation in attractiveness,
colouring, and design, as well as texture, is accomplished.
Wool can never be worn out. That is an indisputable axiom in woollen
circles. It does not matter how many years ago the textile may first
have been prepared, nor the many and varied vicissitudes through
which it may have passed; it can be used over and over again. It may
have travelled through the machines forty or fifty times, may have
graced the form of a hundred persons, may have clothed a scarecrow
or have been retrieved from a river in the course of its career.
True, with each new lease of life it suffers a certain depreciation,
but blended with new wool or cotton it is effectively revived. The
history of a fibre of wool would be distinctly romantic and thrilling
could it be but written, and even the wildest flights of imagination
would be unable to rival stern fact. It is the ability to work
and re-work up woollen textile for an indefinite period which has
contributed to the prosperity of Yorkshire, and which has enabled
this country to build up an export trade in this commodity exceeding
£500,000,000--$2,500,000,000--a year in value.
An impressively successful, yet sinister, utilization of waste was
brought to light during the war. In their methodical investigation
of the dye-stuffs problem the Germans found it necessary to prepare
a certain substance which constitutes the starting-point for the
production of one of their leading products. Toluol, a by-product from
the manufacture of gas, is taken and treated with nitric acid. Now
orthonitrotoluol is the specific product in request, but nitrification
produces two substances, orthonitrotoluol and paranitrotoluol,
respectively. The last-named is of no use whatever, but its production
has to be suffered, though, unfortunately, the yield thereof is twice
that of the essential article. So far as the industrial pursuit in
question is concerned the paranitrotoluol represented a sheer waste.
Now the German, when he encounters a waste, does not throw it away
or allow it to remain an incubus. Saturated with the principle that
the residue from one process merely represents so much raw material
for another line of endeavour, he at once sets to work to attempt to
discover some use for a refuse. Manufacturers in other countries were
equally troubled with the accumulations of paranitrotoluol because
the production of the two substances as a result of nitrifying toluol
is strictly in accordance with constitutional chemical law. They also
learned that the Germans had succeeded in turning it to advantage. What
was this application? This was the poser. They sought enlightenment in
this direction but found that the German was resolutely keeping his
discovery to himself.
Other countries remained in ignorance until the Germans set out to
materialize their fantastic dream of world-wide domination. When
their hordes burst upon the frontier defences of Belgium, and their
bombardment played sad havoc with the fortifications of Liege and
Namur, the world marvelled. The intense destructive power of the high
explosive which was being used was something new to warfare. It was
promptly investigated, and then the use for the paranitrotoluol, the
apparent incubus of the dye-stuffs-producing factories, was discovered.
It was being turned into the destructive agent familiarly known as
T.N.T., or trinitrotoluol, to give the explosive its true chemical
designation.
It is perfectly obvious, from what has been related, that, if one
will only devote sufficient energy and fertility of thought to the
study of so-called rubbish and its properties, incalculable economic
and financial benefits must redound to the individual. And as with
individuals so with nations. The British race is generally assailed as
being woefully improvident and remiss in the profitable exploitation
of waste, but it errs in excellent company. The United States of
America are probably far more guilty in this respect. According to the
statement of the American Food Administrator the inhabitants of 24
cities between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by ignoring the latent
wealth contained in their garbage barrels, are throwing away sufficient
grease and fat during the year to produce 30,000,000 one-pound bars
of soap. On the other hand, 300 small towns, by pursuing thrift in
this direction, are producing sufficient food from the disposal of
their swill to yield 50,000,000 additional pounds of pork worth
£1,600,000 ($8,000,000) a year, although in this instance the results
might be doubled by the practice of more perfect methods. Another 350
towns, which disdain the value of their swill-tubs, are throwing away
approximately £2,000,000 ($10,000,000) a year because they are not
inclined to take a little trouble concerning the disposal of their
garbage.
Contrast the methods obtaining in the United States and Britain with
those peculiar to France. That picturesque figure of French civic life,
the _chiffonnier_, is the perennial butt of humorists and cartoonists.
But he is a powerful economic factor. Through his efforts millions
sterling are saved annually to the French nation. The rag-picker and
his colleagues “specializing” in other forms of spoil lurking in the
ash-barrel pursue their work so diligently as to secure everything,
except vegetable matter, which is capable of being worked up into other
forms by the exercise of brains and commercial enterprise. It may not
seem a savoury occupation to rake over the repulsive assorted contents
of the household dust-bin, but it serves to swell, to an appreciable
degree, the streams of raw materials flowing into the insatiable
maws of industry. What is left after these industrious toilers have
completed their work finds its way to the dust-destructor to assist in
the raising of steam to drive engines and generators for the supply of
electricity.
The diligent exploitation of waste exercises a far-reaching influence
upon the wealth of nations. If we were to turn the whole of our
residues, both industrial and domestic, to the utmost account we
should be able to cut down our annual expenditure upon purchases from
abroad to a very startling degree. Every ton of import saved not
only represents the retention of so much sterling in our pocket, but
releases a ton of shipping for the movement of other material, not
necessarily to these islands, but between other countries, since it
must not be forgotten that we derive an appreciable proportion of our
national income from carrying the trade of the world. If we were to
salvage all the rags entering into the domestic refuse of the nation we
could reduce our imports of wool during the year by 19,000 tons, and
allow 15,000 tons of shipping space to be devoted to other purposes.
From the yield of cotton refuse derived from the dust-bins we could
turn out 16,000 tons of new paper. If we were to become miserly in
our collection of waste-paper and to turn it back into the mills, we
could secure a further 44,000 tons of new paper during the year and
save the import of 75,000 tons of wet pulp from Scandinavia. Were all
our old tins handed over to the steel-makers we could reproduce from
this raw material 74,000 tons of new steel and dispense with 148,000
tons of Spanish ore. The steel obtainable from the re-smelting of old
tins alone would furnish sufficient material to construct approximately
forty 3,000-ton vessels.
Fortunately, a change in the national habits of extravagance is to be
recorded. The increased cost of living is compelling more sparing use
of the necessaries of life and industry. The incontrovertible truth of
the axiom “Waste not; want not,” although it may sound rather trite,
has been brought home to us. But the complete salvage of waste is
probably impossible of realization so long as the kitchen stove and
furnace remain. Fire is an excellent destructive agency, but is far too
handy for the removal from sight, if not from memory, of the multitude
of odds and ends incidental to our complex social and industrial
existence. With the coming of the electric age, and the supersession of
kitchen stoves and factory furnaces by cheap current, the facilities
for the ready destruction of what is really valuable raw material under
the guise of waste will be removed. In the interests of economy and
wealth, both individual and national, it is to be hoped that the coming
of the electric era may not be unduly delayed.