THE GERMAN CONQUEST OF WASTE
Waste creates wealth. If one desire a convincing illustration of the
truth of this latter-day precept one has only to cross the North Sea.
It is generally conceded that, at the dawn of the second decade of the
twentieth century, the Teutonic Empire had the world at its feet so
far as commerce is concerned. There is little reason to doubt but that
Germany would have become the super-trading nation of the world within
a few more years had not territorial ambition and the lust for military
conquest have blinded Reason.
The pre-war wealth of the country, that is as it stood in 1914, is
universally acknowledged. But what is not so generally appreciated
is the circumstance that, to a very marked degree, this wealth was
secured as a result of the scientific utilization of waste. In every
ramification of industrial and social activity thrift, system,
and organization were conspicuous. Circumstances were primarily
responsible for the pursuance of such a policy. Germany is essentially
an agricultural country. She was dependent upon outside sources of
supply for many of the staple raw materials wherewith to keep her mills
and factories going. Consequently she was compelled to rely for her
existence upon the margin between buying and selling, and she naturally
strove to render this difference as pronounced as possible by turning
her purchases to the maximum advantage. Even in the exploitation of her
natural resources this tendency was manifest, but little wastage being
suffered.
The Germans went farther. From the experience amassed in the
development of wealth from waste products they were quite prepared to
buy residues from foreign competitors, to ship them to the Homeland,
and there to work them up. The country was quite prepared to act as a
marine store upon a big scale, because thereby it was able to acquire
valuable potential raw materials for infinitesimal expense. The vending
countries, as a rule, were quite ready to dispose of their waste at a
trifling figure, and often more unfeignedly glad to be rid of what they
considered to be a nuisance, comforting themselves with the thought
that they had been able to drive good bargains from the sale of what
was useless to themselves.
The Teuton buyers were equally satisfied. They generally succeeded
in buying useful material at an absurdly low figure. Very often
the heaviest item of expense in such transactions was the cost of
freighting the waste to Germany, but here they were able to reap
distinct advantages from preferential rates. However, such expenditure
was speedily recouped because the articles contrived from the erstwhile
rubbish commanded a ready sale and at attractive prices. It was by no
means uncommon for the Germans to sell the commercial products wrought
from the waste back to the very firms whence the last-named had been
acquired, and at a considerably enhanced figure.
The strangest feature about these transactions was the keenness with
which they were conducted. The countries concerned were far readier to
resort to such commercial tactics than to bestir themselves to turn
their wastes to similar account, although it must be admitted that
the wily Teutons, recognizing the advantage they held, were disposed
to invest their processes for translating refuse into commodities
with distinct secrecy. They played a gigantic game of bluff and their
temerity met with success. If the victims had only reflected they would
have realized that such activity was quite possible to themselves;
that such enterprise would have provided additional avenues for the
employment of their own citizens, and would have contributed materially
to their individual commercial wealth.
The Germans ransacked the world for wastes. For instance, who but the
Teuton would have gone to stone-fruit packers on the other side of the
world and have offered to purchase the stones which the preservers
discarded and burned under the factory boilers to assist in raising
steam? But the purchasing German firm was astute. The stones were
sent home and the packers laughed at the idea of moving such refuse
half-way round the world. The buyers suffered the taunts in silence.
Upon reaching the German factories the fruit-stones were cracked and
the nuts extracted. These were submitted to treatment to yield a wide
range of oils, some of which were turned into essences and liqueurs.
Then the Germans dispatched much of this reclaimed produce back to the
territory where the stones were purchased, where it was bought with
avidity, and at inordinately high prices. Little did the packers think
that they were buying back their own refuse in another and useful form
and were being compelled to pay heavily for the privilege!
The fibrous residue, remaining after the expression of the oil, was
turned into cattle-food, much of which also was sold in foreign
markets. The nut-shells were turned into carbon or charcoal, which,
from its peculiar quality and high grade, was eminently adapted to
laboratory and other uses. We were forced to realize that such shells
possess distinct virtues, for did we not encourage one and all to save
the stones from fruit to furnish the requisite absorbent material with
which to equip the gas-masks served to our soldiers to combat the
evils of the poison-gas used in the war! In this connection we were
completely forestalled by the enemy. Undoubtedly he was encouraged to
launch such a devilish weapon from his discovery of a complete antidote
to such aggressive measures in the charcoal made from the spurned
nut-shells accruing to the fruit-packing country on the other side of
the globe.
Sawdust accumulates in Germany as it does in every country where
working in wood is practised extensively. But there the waste is not
turned into rivers or burned in destructors as in the United States
and Canada. Nor is it dumped in unsightly heaps to rot slowly, used to
bed-down stock, or distributed over the floors of butchers’ shops and
public-houses as in these islands.
A firm conceived the idea of turning this residue to account in the
fabrication of a special form of plastic floor-covering. It was mixed
with magnesium chloride to form a cement to be applied somewhat after
the manner of asphalt, the whole of the area thus being covered
and finished off with suitable tools to yield a smooth, level, and
attractive finish.
However, it was speedily discovered that this floor-covering suffered
from one disability. Magnesium chloride is hygroscopic: it absorbs
water, even moisture from the atmosphere, very readily. Consequently
it became soft and damp in humid and wet weather. Otherwise it left
nothing to be desired, being comfortable to the tread, silent, and warm.
The German is nothing if not thorough. He does not hesitate to harness
science to the wheels of industry when the occasion so demands. He
realized that to utilize sawdust as a floor-covering it would be
necessary to follow strict scientific lines. Accordingly the chemist
was called in. He, as a result of prolonged investigations and numerous
tests, succeeded in overcoming the outstanding inherent defect of the
sawdust paving, and at the same time emphasized that control of the
proportions of sawdust and magnesium chloride was essential owing to
the first-named varying so widely in its characteristics according
to the nature of the wood from which it is derived. Consequently the
manufacture of this floor-covering is now supervised by the chemist,
and the hygroscopic difficulty has been effectively overcome. The
material has achieved a distinct vogue, not only in Germany, but
in other countries. It is extremely effective and is relatively
inexpensive--the cost averages from 5 to 7 shillings ($1.25 to $1.75)
per square yard--bearing in mind its durable and wearing qualities.
Incidentally the country has found a highly profitable outlet for its
accumulations of sawdust.
The world’s consumption of tin-plate has risen to enormous proportions,
the extraordinary expansion of the tinned or canned food industry
being responsible for this development. Thousands of tons of steel are
absorbed in the manufacture of these containers, as well as hundreds of
tons of tin and solder. Upon the removal of the contents the tins are
generally thrown away, especially by the prodigal nations. This wastage
became so flagrant as to arouse the severe condemnation of economists
in every country, but these would-be apostles found it well-nigh
hopeless to persuade their compatriots to endeavour to exploit the
empty tins. Here and there spasmodic efforts were made upon a limited
scale to recover the solder, tin, and steel-plate for further use, but
the problem did not prove so easy of solution as it had appeared.
The bulk of the vessel constituted a formidable obstacle, while its
susceptibility to the ravages of rust was also discovered to be a
distinct drawback. In this country the general practice has beep
to crush the tins flat and to feed them into the blast furnaces as
scrap, but in this process the tin vanishes up the chimney, while
the solder is also lost, though the steel-plate, which forms 99 per
cent. of the composition of the vessel, becomes available as raw
material. Nevertheless, although the quantity of tin used is trifling,
representing only approximately one per cent., the Germans considered
it to be quite worthy of recovery, especially when tin commanded from
£150 to £200--$750 to $1,000--per ton.
The Teuton attacked the tin-recovery problem more energetically than
his colleagues in other countries and apparently achieved success,
although the degree of triumph recorded in this connection has always
remained a matter for considerable speculation. Be that as it may
the German interests concerned were quite prepared to purchase empty
British tins and to ship them across the North Sea to be treated in
their home plants. From this fact it is only logical to assume that
they had found practical ways and means to consummate the desired end,
otherwise they would scarcely have gone to the lengths of organizing
a complete collecting system in these islands, and of incurring the
freightage charges, although the waste was carried at a low figure.
With the outbreak of war, and the rise in the price of tin to
approximately £300 ($1,500) a ton, we were forced to inquire into the
possibilities of recovering the tin and solder from this refuse, and by
energetic action were able to equal, if not to surpass, German effort,
so that to-day de-tinning may be said to represent an established
British industry.
The fact that Germany was compelled to depend extensively upon outside
sources for supplies of raw materials prompted the theory in many
quarters that, once the British blockade was firmly established,
surrender must follow quickly from economic pressure. But the enemy
displayed his ability to hold out for a far longer period than we had
anticipated. Why? Simply because the moment he saw himself isolated
from his outside sources of supply he inaugurated a more rigid system
for the compulsory collection, segregation and utilization of his
domestic waste. We know to-day how sternly these orders were enforced,
and how completely the country was covered by official organizations
established to this end.
To ensure that nothing of industrial value should be lost a collecting
centre was established in every village and hamlet, the local chief
magistrate being vested with wide powers for the conduct of the work
placed in his charge. It was his duty to see that everything and
anything capable of further exploitation was retrieved. The inhabitants
were notified by public placard that they must bring and surrender
their accumulations of refuse to the collecting centre at specific
intervals, according to the available machinery and the population of
the village. The head of every family or household was held personally
responsible for the preservation of anything capable of further use
and residue incurred within his home. Any dereliction in this respect,
or infraction of the official commands, was subject to punishment
according to the nature of the offence.
The materials which were in greatest demand were duly set forth. They
included such junk as old metal of every description, from useless
cooking utensils to fragments of wire, worn-out tools, abandoned
implements and nails recovered from packing cases: textile odds and
ends no matter how old and threadbare from the heterogeneous contents
of the rag-bag to discarded suits, dresses, hosiery, frills, ribbon,
and hats: and kitchen waste in infinite variety. The metal was turned
over to the munition plants, the textile waste to the woollen, paper,
and other mills, while the organic waste was distributed throughout
the countryside for feeding stock after the fats and greases had been
extracted.
In the towns and cities similar organizations were created, only in
these instances the regulations were somewhat more stringent. All and
every kind of kitchen waste had to be surrendered daily. In the leading
cities it was incumbent upon every householder to have his accumulation
of refuse from the previous day ready for the arrival of the official
collecting cart. As this passed through the street in which he resided
he had to carry and discharge his consignment of refuse into the
vehicle. In some instances, as in Berlin, this task involved early
rising because the collecting duty had to be completed before 7 a.m.
In the towns and cities the waste was most rigorously controlled. It
was criminal for the housewife or maid to permit the grease clinging to
the plates and dishes from the table to escape down the sink. This fat
had to be emptied into a special pail, and with the minimum of water.
Terse instructions as to how this could be done to the satisfaction of
the authorities were issued. It would seem as if the salvage of grease
were carried to an absurdly fine degree, but in view of the prevailing
circumstances the authorities were justified in compelling the recovery
of such an apparently insignificant trifle as a dab or two of grease
upon a dinner-plate, since it was found that the daily yield of fat
from the average town was about 8,000 pounds. Truly the enemy may be
said to have fully realized the truth that “many a mickle makes a
muckle.”
But the inhabitants, though forced to gather all their fat with such
scrupulous care and to surrender it to the authorities, were enabled to
receive a certain proportion back again--by paying for it--in the form
of soap. The fat was secured in order to extract its glycerine content
for the production of explosives, a certain quantity being set on one
side to be turned into a lubricating grease to keep the oil-starved
mammoth machine plants of the country going. The residue remaining
after the extraction of the glycerine was turned into soap.
Skins, rags, bones, feathers, hair, rubber-scrap and other articles too
numerous to specify were collected by this machinery. All waste arising
in the slaughter of animals for food was carefully gathered. Special
factories were reserved for treating the carcases of animals which had
succumbed from old age, accident, disease and other causes. A farmer
was not even permitted to bury the corpse of a dog. The authorities
alone were vested with the power to handle deceased animals. These
were thrown into suitably designed vessels, sufficiently large in some
instances to receive a horse intact, which were then hermetically
sealed to prevent the escape of noisome gases. Cooking was pursued
to secure the fats and other products arising from the destructive
distillation of the dead animal. The gases which were thrown off
during the process were carefully collected, condensed to shed any
foreign particles which happened to be in suspension, and then fed to
the furnaces to assist in raising the heat required for cooking. By the
time the distillation process had been completed only a minute quantity
of fibrous residue remained together with the solid particles of bones.
This mass was ground up and converted into chemical manure.
The shortage of oil was most keenly felt because this affected every
range of the industrial and domestic life. Perhaps we do not generally
realize the fact that all machinery would be condemned to immobility
were lubricating oil supplies to be cut off. But it was not only
imperative to keep the war material factories, trains, trams, motor
vehicles, electric generating stations and a host of other plants in
operation. Fats were in demand for a more vital issue--the table. To
meet the shortage of butter, vegetable or nut-oil and animal margarine,
fats and greases were in urgent request.
To mitigate the deficiency in this direction as far as possible a
further rigorous enactment was put into force. It was rendered a penal
offence to throw away the kernels of plums, peaches, apricots, prunes,
cherries and other stone fruits or even the pips of apples and pears.
One and all had to be carefully husbanded and surrendered to the
authorities at special collecting stations, which, for the most part,
were established in schools and municipal buildings. Juvenile effort
and enthusiasm were fired. The school children were urged to maintain
an alert eye for such raw material and were also encouraged to gather
acorns, horse-chestnuts, and beech-nuts. The yield of such residues
must have been enormous in the aggregate. One city alone reported the
production of over 300,000 pounds of oil during a single year from the
various nuts collected within its jurisdiction.
In the exploitation of gaseous products the Germans have undoubtedly
displayed remarkable initiative. They certainly pioneered the use
of the gases arising from the manufacture of pig-iron. It was the
practice to allow the gases from the blast-furnaces to escape into
the atmosphere. Seeing that approximately 150,000 cubic feet of gas
arise from the production of a ton of pig-iron, and bearing in mind
the output of the ironworks, it will be seen that the wastage in
this direction must have represented a formidable item during the
twenty-four hours.
These waste gases were chemically investigated, and it was discovered
that approximately one-fifth of the total volume thrown off consisted
of carbon monoxide gas which has a very high heating value. Thereupon
the Germans set to work to recover this gas, to clean it and to convert
it into a fuel for driving suitably designed gas engines. Years of
labour and study were devoted to the problem, which was discovered
to be exceedingly abstruse. But the obstacles were overcome and the
blast-furnace gas engine made its appearance. The perfection of this
means of utilizing a waste product has revolutionized a certain phase
of industry throughout the world. One of the first firms to adopt the
new idea was the Krupp establishment, where the gas collected from
eight blast-furnaces which hitherto had been allowed to escape into and
mingle with the atmosphere was harnessed to drive fifteen big engines.
The perfection of this achievement in waste utilization speedily became
reflected throughout the country and was subsequently introduced into
this country where vast strides in connection with its use have been
made.
Much has been related concerning the development of the airship
in Germany, but this has been due in no small measure to the fact
that it afforded a profitable outlet for the utilization of a waste
product--one absolutely vital to the airship. I refer to hydrogen.
This gas is produced in enormous quantities at many German works, and,
for a considerable period, had to be ignored because no industrial use
for it was apparent. A certain quantity was absorbed in the synthetic
production of precious stones--topaz, rubies, and sapphires--but this
consumption was trifling. Its fellow, oxygen, remained a drug on
the market for many years until the coming of the oxy-acetylene and
oxy-hydrogen method of welding and cutting metals came into popular
favour. Then the demand for oxygen expanded so rapidly as to compel
the laying down of plants for the production of oxygen from water by
electrolysis. But the increased output of oxygen released still larger
quantities of hydrogen for which practically no market obtained.
Consequently the endeavours of Zeppelin and his contemporaries received
every encouragement. With the conquest of the air by the dirigible
all anxiety concerning the profitable use of hydrogen disappeared. At
one large factory, producing this gas in huge volumes, a special plant
capable of filling the largest Zeppelin craft was laid down. The low
figure at which hydrogen was obtainable was responsible in no small
measure for the popularity of ballooning in Germany in days previous
to the coming of the airship. The use of coal-gas for this purpose was
discouraged: it was far more valuable for fuel applications, whereas
the hydrogen was not only a superior lifting agent but deserved
employment because it offered a remunerative outlet for a waste, and
would assist in the expansion of other industries depending upon
supplies of cheap oxygen.
To encourage the aeronautical use of hydrogen the firm in question
embarked upon another branch of trading. It assumed the manufacture
of cylinders or steel bottles for the storage of the gas under
pressure--up to 200 atmospheres. Batteries of these bottles were
maintained in a charged condition ready for instant dispatch to any
part of the country in reply to a telegraphic or telephonic order. The
airship pioneers in Germany were never in a quandary concerning the
acquisition of the indispensable gas, nor were they faced with the
obligation to lay down their own plants for its supply to meet their
individual needs. Hydrogen was obtainable in any desired quantity at
the end of a wire, and could be purchased as readily as a truck-load
of coal from a colliery, while it was also available at an attractive
price.
To deal fully with the German conquest of waste would prove wearisome.
Enterprise and initiative are apparent in every direction from the use
of recovered solder for the production of toy soldiers to the wholesale
stripping of motor-cars and cheap clocks for their integral parts.
Little wonder therefore that the Germans built up a wealthy national
fabric. But probably the most striking evidence of the truth of the
assertion that waste creates wealth is extended by the coal dye-stuffs
industry. Sixty years ago the tar arising from the distillation of
coal was as anathema to the engineers concerned, as I have previously
related. Its disposal offered a pretty problem. It was difficult to
burn, could not be turned into streams or the drains, and could not be
allowed to dissipate itself into the ground. Any one who was prepared
to fetch it could take it away with the engineer’s most profound
blessings. It was waste in its most compelling form.
Then came Perkin with his discovery of mauve from the much-maligned
tar. Immediately the former anathema of the gas-works became invested
with a new and indefinable significance. But so far as Britain was
concerned little progress was to be recorded. Perkin struggled
valiantly to establish a new industry in this country, only to suffer
discouragement and ham-stringing obstruction for his ingenuity and
enterprise. The Germans appropriated the discovery and prosecuted
researches and experiments so vigorously and whole-heartedly as to
build up one of the biggest monopolies known to industrial effort.
It was not until the declaration of war that the world recognized
the extent of the tribute it had been prepared to pay annually to
the Teuton in this one field of trading. The sudden interruption of
supplies of colouring agents derived from coal-tar, and made in the
huge factories fringing the Rhine, Main and Spree, threatened a whole
host of trades from China to Peru. The competitive nations were forced
to turn their attention to the mastery of an industry which hitherto
they had virtually neglected in order to keep their industries alive,
only to discover that they had much to learn. In the United States
thousands suffered want and distress from unemployment just because
the stocks of dyes had run out and their domestic dye-manufacturing
plants were unable to rise to the occasion with sufficient promptitude.
Antiseptics were difficult to procure, especially those which had
achieved such a wide measure of popular favour during recent years,
because they were of German origin and were no longer forthcoming.
Amateur photographers were compelled to pack away their cameras and to
forgo the pursuance of their hobby until such time as the essential
chemicals once more became procurable and cheaper, while doctors were
forced to polish up long-forgotten or rusty knowledge concerning
the herbaceous drugs which had been displaced by those derived from
coal-tar.
A few figures will serve to drive home the stranglehold which the
Germans had secured upon the trade of the world from the scientific
exploitation of a waste product. For 5,000 years India supplied the
world with indigo which was of vegetable origin. Apparently it held
an unassailable commercial position and was held in particularly high
esteem by Japan and China. Bauer, the German chemist, resolved to solve
the indigo riddle and at once set out to make it from coal-tar. It
proved a difficult quest occupying many years and involving thousands
of experiments. But perseverance brought its due reward although
success was not recorded until a round £1,000,000 had been spent. Then,
before it had become established upon the market, it suffered eclipse
by an improved process which had also been perfected by a German.
Within five years of its appearance upon the market synthetic indigo
had driven its natural rival from India virtually into oblivion. The
coal-tar competitor even established a firm foothold in the land
where the vegetable article had held sway for so many thousand years.
Throughout China and Japan a similar story was related. Indian indigo
was no longer required. It was beaten hopelessly in price, the factor
which counts in commercial circles, by the synthetic German article.
Of the artificial colouring materials imported by China German indigo
claimed two-thirds. A seventh of the artificial dyes imported by Japan
was German indigo, while one-tenth of the dye-stuffs imported from
Germany into the United States was artificial indigo.
As a result of less than fifty years’ ceaseless endeavour Germany built
up an industry specializing in the manufacture of tinctorial matters
derived from coal-tar, capitalized at £50,000,000--$250,000,000--and
had a list of 2,000 different colours of a synthetic character which
she could supply, one thousand of which were in steady daily demand. We
talk about the restoration of the British coal-tar dye-stuffs industry.
The Americans voice a similar story. It is glib. How far have we got?
As a result of five years’ hard work in Britain we are in the position
to market about 300 of the 2,000 dye-stuffs which Germany has in her
trade catalogue, while America can point to a list of about 200. True,
these represent many of the colours which are in heaviest request, but
it will be seen that we have a very long way to go yet before we can
claim to have wrested the industry from Germany, while in comparison
with the £50,000,000--$250,000,000--of capital invested in the Teuton
industry, the £5,000,000--$25,000,000--sunk in the British enterprise
appears paltry.
To indicate how industriously and comprehensively the German houses
have probed this particular waste utilization problem it may be
mentioned that one of the leading houses in the industry has taken
out approximately 6,500 patents to protect its activities, while it
turns out a round 2,000 different products all made from coal-tar.
The manufacture of the synthetic drugs--aspirin, veronal, sulphonal,
phenacetin--and a host of others runs into stupendous figures. That
concerning antiseptic preparations as well as the production of
chemicals incidental to photography and the leather trades is equally
imposing. It is estimated that the total capital sunk in German
enterprises identified with the exploitation of coal-tar ranges between
£140,000,000 and £160,000,000--$700,000,000 to $800,000,000. The return
is exceedingly attractive, exceeding £80,000,000--$400,000,000--per
annum in value.
To the British nation the magnitude and prosperity of this huge traffic
in coal-tar derivatives with its enormous wealth is particularly
galling. Had we displayed a more sympathetic attitude towards the
discovery of Perkin and his endeavours, and had we displayed similar
initiative, energy and enterprise the monopoly which became Germany’s
might have been ours. But we disdained to exploit a waste. We left it
to a persevering rival, and became content to pay him tribute for the
utilization of a fundamental British discovery and incidentally to
charge his coffers with the sinews of war. Had we kept the potential
treasure-house of coal-tar to ourselves the history of the world might
have been written very differently. It was the wealth accruing from
the coal-tar dye-stuffs industry which enabled Germany to play a far
bigger part than may be generally conceived in the development of her
other industries, especially that pertaining to the chemical trade, the
dye-works constituting the nursery where Germany raised her battalions
of chemists.
It must not be inferred from what I have narrated that the German has
a peculiar prerogative in the mastery of waste products: far from
it. In certain ranges of industry we have eclipsed the Teuton and
have paddled our own canoe so far as blazing the trail of industrial
economy is concerned. Nor is the Teuton temperamentally better adapted
to the scientific exploitation of refuse. For the most part he has
been compelled to investigate these divers potential raw materials
to maintain his industrial existence. Moreover, as may be readily
conceived from what I have related, the issue has been forced upon him
by repressive official machinery and legislative measures. Discipline
in this as in many other fields has fulfilled its purpose. Certainly
it has reduced every German scrap-heap and dump into a Tom Tiddler’s
ground and the application of its contents into a semi-automatic
operation, or at least into part of the intricate routine of industry.
It is to be hoped that we have not allowed the lesson thus taught to be
lost. By now we should have learned, and digested thoroughly, the truth
of the precept that waste creates wealth--and commercial power.