Title: Millions from Waste
Author: Talbot, Frederick Arthur Ambrose
Language: English
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  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.



CHAPTER II

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.



CHAPTER III

SALVAGE FROM THE ARMY SWILL-TUB


Waste is one of the concomitant evils of a high civilization.
Undoubtedly it is incidental to the primitive as well, but to a
lesser degree. In this instance, however, the waste incurred does not
represent a complete loss, because upon being discarded it decomposes,
and thus continues the cycle of Nature.

Under conditions of advanced civilization, where a blind worship of
Hygiene rules, residues of an organic character, from their very ready
susceptibility to decomposition, are construed into a menace of health,
although, as a matter of fact, the danger in this connection is more
imaginary than real. Such refuse invariably suffers destruction by
fire or by some other so-called sanitary method involving either the
total or almost complete loss of valuable materials. We satisfy our
consciences, however, by reflecting that the pursuance of such drastic
methods satisfies the faith of hygiene, although the community suffers
very pronouncedly in pocket in the long run.

It is only when pressure becomes exerted by some stupendous cataclysm,
such as war, bringing in its train the peril of a bare sufficiency
of foodstuffs, which in turn provokes high prices, that it becomes
possible to combat the ignorance born of erroneous enlightenment
in regard to matters hygienic. Under such conditions the gospel of
retrenchment and reform may be preached with greater promise of
accomplishing success. But the community, considered as a whole,
even in time of adversity, is slow to depart from accepted practice.
Precious time is lost in the application of the precept of making one
pound go as far as did two pounds under more congenial conditions.

It is a matter for extreme satisfaction, if not one of agreeable
surprise, to learn that, so far as Britain is concerned, it was
the army which blazed the trail of economy, particularly in regard
to foodstuffs. This certainly sounds amazing, because the Military
Service has ever been regarded as the national sink both for finance
and kind. Nevertheless, no matter how guilty of squandering it may
have been during the opening months of the war, the sins of omission
were subsequently rectified, to present a striking object-lesson to
the civilian section of the community in regard to the scientific
utilization of what the soldier was unable to consume, and its ultimate
presentation to commerce in a variety of forms for the manufacture of
other products of an indispensable character, or foodstuffs. By the
practice of rigid economy along these lines, and without pinching or
squeezing the food allowances to the soldier in the slightest degree,
millions sterling a year were, and still are being, saved to the
tax-payer.

When signs of coming food stringency for the civilian element of
the nation became manifest, as a result of the relentless submarine
campaign inaugurated by the Germans, combined with the necessity to
concentrate shipping upon forwarding supplies to the fighting forces,
the moment was considered to be propitious for putting into operation
a scheme of retrenchment and reform. It had already been prepared, and
was merely awaiting application. The only question demanding care was
the introduction of the proposal in such a manner as not to impair the
soldier’s physique and health.

During the opening days of the war, when the authorities were faced
with the absorbing problem of enrolling men, food wastage assumed
enormous proportions. Severe criticisms were levelled against the
military authorities, and doubtless the strictures were more or less
deserved. But extravagance under the conditions which prevailed was
inevitable. By a stroke of the pen the effective strength of the
British Army was increased from 180,000 to over a million men. Lord
Kitchener’s call proved so irresistible as to persuade men to enlist
in far more imposing masses than had ever been anticipated. The ranks
were swelled by recruits from all stations of life, and their tastes
were as diverse as were the positions they had previously held in the
complex social scale. The transition from civilian to military life was
too sudden. The men naturally clamoured for subsistence more or less in
consonance with what they had been for so long accustomed in private
life. If the food did not coincide with their fancies it was promptly
thrown away.

The difficulty of the situation was further aggravated from the
circumstance that many men who were promoted to commissioned rank were
generally deficient of all knowledge pertaining to the commissariat.
Consequently it is not surprising to find that the elaboration of an
economic reform from the victualling chaos which prevailed proved a
stupendous task.

In pre-war days the disposal of the waste from the soldier’s table
constituted a relatively simple task. All residue went into what is
known as the “swill-tub.” This convenient receptacle did not completely
represent the military equivalent of its civilian counterpart, nor were
the contents on a level with the combined solid and liquid odds and
ends of an organic nature from the table of the ordinary individual.
The military swill-tub was regarded rather as a handy vessel for the
receipt of anything and everything which was no longer required, or
which did not present any further apparent use to the soldier.

The system of disposal was likewise adapted to the prevailing
circumstances. The 180,000 troops forming the standing army at home
were distributed throughout the length and breadth of the United
Kingdom, and thus became resolved into scattered military colonies,
not one of which was of pronounced numerical strength. Consequently
a centralized scheme for dealing with the waste could scarcely be
introduced with any likelihood of proving profitable or successful in
working. Local circumstances governed the issue very materially. The
disposal of the garbage was vested in the local commanding officer,
while the proceeds from the sale of the swill to farmers and others
went into the regimental funds.

Notwithstanding this ostensibly haphazard arrangement it must not be
supposed that the farmer was able to secure the spoil from the local
garrison for a ridiculous figure. The erstwhile army officer has often
been assailed for his apparent lack of business acumen, but, in so far
as the disposal of this swill was concerned, he often proved a hard
bargainer as many farmers and swill-buyers will readily concede. The
higher the figure the officer was able to realize over the transaction
the more enhanced was the sum with which he could swell the regimental
coffers. It was only in those instances where disposal was attended
with difficulty, or where accumulation of the garbage would have
constituted a distinct menace to the health of the troops, that low
prices obtained.

This method had to hold sway during the initial rush to the colours.
But the moment the opportunity opened for an attack upon this
problem as a whole it was accepted. A new inspection department was
created by the Quarter-Master-General which became known as the
Quarter-Master-General’s Services, accompanied by the appointment of a
chief inspector who was charged with the control of the whole question
of messing and the profitable exploitation of the residues accruing
from the feeding of the troops. This department appointed competent
inspectors to conduct the work in hand to a successful issue, while the
catering issue became centralized under an Inspector of Army Catering.

The combined scheme of centralization and decentralization brought
the Chief Inspector into intimate touch with the problem in all its
varied phases, and the messing of the army as a whole was now placed
upon a solid foundation. The inspectors attached to the Home Commands
distributed throughout the United Kingdom drew up exhaustive reports
upon the issue as it affected their respective centres. From the
subsequent digestion of these reports it was found possible to adjust
the supply of food to the soldier’s actual requirements and to effect
the first reduction in his rations.

The original issue comprised 1 lb. of bread and ³⁄₄ lb. of meat per man
per day, because, in accordance with the long-established peace-time
procedure of the army, which was continued after the outbreak of
war, the national upkeep of the fighting man involved the supply of
only these two staples. Whatever else the soldier fancied he had
to purchase for himself, in which direction he was assisted by his
messing allowance of 7¹⁄₂d. (15 cents) per day. When the matter was
investigated it was learned that this issue was in excess of the
average man’s actual needs. Nevertheless the full ration of meat was
generally cooked, the soldier consuming as much as he desired, while
what he left over was relegated to the swill-tub. It was the same with
the bread, the residue likewise being discarded to this convenient
receptacle. Consequently the first move was to adapt the rations to the
soldier’s consuming powers.

It was also discovered that considerable waste arose from the
indifferent manner in which the meat was prepared and cooked. The
tastes of the men, especially of the recruits to the New Armies,
varied very widely according to the social scales from which they
had been drawn. But while the men from the higher ranks of life were
not fastidious they did at least demand the skilful and appetizing
presentation of their food. If the meat were indifferently cooked it
was simply left untouched to find its way to the swill-tub.

Accordingly, it was decided to improve the military cuisine forthwith.
The kitchen service was severely overhauled, only the most competent
and expert cooks being retained in this service. In pre-war days the
army maintained only one Cookery School--at Aldershot--from which all
military cooks graduated. But as the armies grew in millions this
solitary university proved hopelessly inadequate. Accordingly, cookery
schools were established in each command while a totally new curriculum
was introduced.

The cookery school became the “key” to the whole situation. It not
only became the nursery where the autocrats of the field-kitchen
were raised, but it was the hive in which many little wrinkles were
learned, where new ideas were submitted to initial test and practice,
to be adopted throughout the armies if they established their value,
and where economies were subjected to exacting trial for widespread
application upon issuing unscathed from the ordeals to which they were
imposed. The improvement in the personnel, training, and methods of
the men in charge of the field hotels proved successful in another
direction. Higher efficiency and contentment among the troops were
recorded, for the simple reason that a satisfied, well-fed soldier
provides the finest fighting material.

With improvements in cookery the contents of the swill-tub commenced
to dwindle in volume. Less food was wasted while the residue from the
table similarly decreased. As this development was pursued it was
ultimately found possible to reduce the rations of bread and meat still
further without provoking the slightest discontent. A third reduction
in the rations took place in 1917 to the extent of an additional
two ounces of bread, except in the case of soldiers under nineteen
years of age, and a quarter of an ounce of salt per man per day. The
cumulative results of these economies represented a direct saving
annual of £4,000,000--$20,000,000--in cash to the nation in respect
of the soldiers’ rations. In other words, the huge armies of 1918
consumed less food to the value of four millions sterling than was
the case two years previously, and this satisfactory end was achieved
without stinting a man. Such a remarkable result was primarily due to
the improved method of preparing and serving the food. During the war
more than 50,000 men were passed through the cookery schools attached
to the Home Commands. The effect of such imposing economies proved of
distinct benefit to the community, because the reduced supplies to the
Army released so much more bread and meat to the non-combatant element
of the country.

The serving of meals, at least so far as the Home units were concerned,
was also completely transformed. Instead of the men being compelled
to indulge in a wild scramble with their messing-tins for their meat
supplies, the latter was cut up in the cook-house and assigned to
dishes for the table. Each man thus became assured of his allotted
ration. But in the event of the allocation exceeding what the soldier
desired, as for instance when he was a trifle off his feed, instead of
being compelled to take his ration willy-nilly, eating as much as he
fancied and leaving the balance on his plate to swell the swill-tub,
he was instructed not to help himself to more than he felt he could
attack. If, after settling down to his meal, he found his appetite to
return unexpectedly, he was free, after the manner of Oliver Twist, to
ask for more, with this difference--he was sure to receive it.

Although under this _régime_ the cooks were given less raw material
with which to carry out their appointed tasks, yet it was found
possible to induce the lesser quantity to go farther than the larger
allotment had ever gone before. Other economies resulting from the
observance of more scientific culinary methods were also recorded. The
introduction of women into the kitchen was tried. This experiment,
doubtless owing to the fact that this represented a woman’s true
sphere and from her inherent tendency to be careful, efficient, and
thorough in every detail concerning the preparation of meals, proved a
conspicuous success.

Now, no matter how persistently and effectively the lessons of economy
may be preached in the kitchen and at the table as much in the home
as in the army, and notwithstanding the infinitesimal degree to which
the proportion of spoiled food may be reduced by the introduction of
superior methods and skill, a certain amount of waste is unavoidable.
It cannot be overcome in its entirety. Tastes differ so widely that
odds and ends are certain to be left untouched upon the plate, while a
certain accumulation of gristle, bone, fat and other inedible portions
must be expected.

The residue upon the individual plate may be so insignificant as to
render a second thought concerning its probable value superfluous.
But, multiply that individual plate and its contribution of waste by
the tens of thousands of plates in use at one time, as in the army,
and it will be realized that, in the aggregate, the fragments assume
a very imposing volume. Furthermore, in the kitchen where the joints
are cut up, the accumulation of pieces is striking. Lastly, in washing
up the plates, dishes and other utensils what an avenue is offered for
the escape of immense quantities of fat through the sink gully? I have
already indicated in a previous chapter what wealth may be lost in this
manner, and how it only needs adequate reclamation methods to enable
such loss to be avoided.

Accordingly, contemporaneously with the reorganization of the catering
and cooking issues, the exploitation of the now appreciably attenuated
swill-tub contents was investigated. This residue was still being
sold to the farmers, but they were not regarding their purchases with
unalloyed delight. Contrary to general opinion, perhaps, raw swill does
not constitute an ideal foodstuff for porkers. As a rule it is too rich
in fat and so tends to exercise a debilitating and impoverishing effect
upon the animals, being a frequent cause of scour.

About this time a grave problem asserted itself in another field of
military activity. The Ministry of Munitions had decided to speed-up
the output of explosives, but such acceleration was threatened by a
shortage of the indispensable constituent, glycerine. It was not a
question of the facilities for the production of this essential being
insufficient to cope with the demand because ample plant was available.
The difficulty was the dearth of animal fat which yields the basic
material in question. Soap manufacturers were also being hard-pressed
for similar fats to conduct their operations. As a result of the
depressing outlook the price of glycerine commenced to advance upon the
market at a disconcerting rate.

The military authorities, cognizant of the huge quantities of animal
fat reclaimable from the swill-tubs throughout the service, recognized
the opportunity to ease the crisis to an appreciable degree. The
segregation, collection, and surrender of this potential raw material
to the industry concerned were merely matters of organization. It was
promptly realized that if the issue were left for adjustment to the
interests generally identified with such enterprises, and in which
the itinerant rag-and-bone merchant and marine store dealer figure
prominently, confusion would ensue, conducing to further disturbance of
prices.

To achieve the desired efficiency the authorities invited the trade,
comprising the soap-makers and the bone degreasers, to discuss the
question. The authorities succinctly narrated what they could do
towards the solution of the problem. The trade was agreeably surprised
by the facts and figures which were set before them, and was quick to
appreciate that here indeed was a new and unexpectedly rich mine of
raw material to be advantageously tapped. The Ministry of Munitions,
also represented at the conference, announced its preparedness to
extend a willing hand. It would take over all the glycerine derived
from fats procured from military sources at a fixed price. This was
mutually settled at £59 10s.--$297.50--per ton, and it was agreed
that the figure should remain relatively firm irrespective of market
fluctuations. It must be conceded that the Ministry drove an astute
bargain, because at the time glycerine was commanding £300--$1,500--per
ton upon the open market, which sum the country would have been
compelled to pay had the military sources of supply not been available.

The trade acquiesced and formed a committee including officers
nominated by the War Office to complete all negotiations and
transactions. Private buyers were nominated to cover the whole country
and a flat rate for the purchase of all fats from military sources
was decided. By this simple arrangement every unit throughout these
islands, no matter how remote its situation, was assured of a definite
market for its fats and bones. Moreover, these units were given strict
instructions to sell their produce only to the trade representative at
the price decided, notwithstanding that other would-be buyers might
proffer a higher quotation.

So far as the army was concerned the remunerative market for all
waste in the form of fats and bones being established, it now became
necessary to whip up the contributions of these residues to the
uttermost ounce. A whirl-wind campaign was conducted throughout the
whole of the Home Commands to demonstrate how this end might be
consummated. Officers of the department concerned visited the various
camps. It was calmly but firmly impressed upon the local responsible
officers that they must resort to every artifice to trap fats and bones
during their devious journeys, so that nothing might escape. There were
heart-to-heart chats with the cooks, who, their imagination fired and
enthusiasm kindled, promised to leave no stone unturned to satisfy the
authorities in this direction.

Only one danger was to be apprehended as a result of this campaign
of enlightenment. In their zest to save the fat the autocrats of the
kitchens and others might unconsciously deprive the soldier of his
proportion of this food so essential to the maintenance of a high
standard of health. Accordingly, while one and all were urged to keep a
tight grip upon the waste, they were instructed to allow the fighting
man to eat just as much fat as he fancied: indeed his consumption
of the highly nutritive dripping was to be specifically encouraged
because, in this manner, it would become possible to release increased
quantities of butter and margarine to the civil population. Holding the
scales evenly between the soldier and the cook-house on the one hand,
and between the troops and the civilians on the other, proved to be
one of the most intricate and delicate problems associated with this
waste-saving campaign.

To secure the fullest co-operation of the cooks the Army Council
agreed to the extension of a specially attractive inducement. An extra
daily financial allowance was sanctioned on the basis of the more fat
the cooks saved and turned over to the making of munitions the better
they would be off in pocket. This allocation, however, was not to
become a charge upon the public purse. It was insisted that it should
be defrayed from the sum realized by a unit in the disposal of its
waste fats and bones, while the balance was to be devoted wholly to the
provision of kitchen utensils and other amenities. The units alone were
to benefit from the practise of economy and obviation of all waste.

The consummation of this arrangement led to one or two amusing sequels
which, it is to be feared, had scarcely been anticipated. Naturally
every camp became uncannily keen to derive the utmost profit from this
phase of permissible trading, and a certain rivalry developed between
the various units to score top marks.

There was one camp, composed of men drawn from units scattered all over
the country, undergoing musketry training. The men became affected with
the “save your bones” craze to an acute degree. As a result of his
periodical investigation the commanding officer suddenly discovered
that he was getting all the fat he wanted. But the bones! That was a
different story: the yield was by no means what it should have been.
The startling discrepancy prompted inquiry, and the officer found
that the soldiers were more fully alive to the real significance of
the swill-tub than he had imagined. But they were more loyal to their
own units than to the musketry camp to which their attachment was
only temporary. They were waging a quiet campaign among themselves,
collecting all the bones upon which they could place their hands,
and determined that their colleagues should derive all the benefits
accruing from the sale of this waste were posting their bone-hauls back
to their own units!

Another instance of similar zeal was even more humorous. A certain
Imperial unit was camped next door to some troops from Overseas. The
“save-your-fat-and-bones” scheme was carefully explained to the latter,
but having come from a land where meat was plentiful they failed to see
the object of being so vigilant and miserly in regard to the residue
in question. The authorities, realizing the situation, refrained from
further pursuit of their proposal, being content to allow what they had
already expressed to sink into the minds of the soldiers, confident
that, upon reflection, the Overseas unit would appreciate the wisdom of
the official recommendation.

The expected happened. The men from Yonder Britain in the end did
conclude that there was something in this waste-saving stunt, and
that they might profit from following the general practice. They
commenced to indulge in bone-collecting and hoarding with rare gusto.
No school-boy ever collected postage-stamps more keenly than did those
fighting men from Farther Britain save bones and fat.

This outburst of zealous economy delighted the authorities. They
saw the yields from the camp of the Overseas fighting men rising by
leaps and bounds. But there was a decrease in the bone-yield from the
Home unit next door! The supply officer, feeling that something must
be amiss, and that possibly the Overseas troops were receiving an
inordinate quantity of bone in the issue to stimulate collecting, dived
into the mystery. It did not prove to be a very baffling quest. The
Overseas unit was able to show a high yield of bones because it was
indulging in surreptitious nocturnal raids, at opportune moments, upon
the bone-stocks of its neighbours!

As the scheme was brought into wider and wider application it was found
that the exploitation of the actual swill-tub might be conducted to
still greater advantage. Hitherto the task had been the redemption of
the bones and waste fat before it reached the actual garbage barrel.
But to turn the actual contents of the swill-tub properly so-called
to economic account it was seen that certain plant would have to be
installed, although investigation revealed that such appliances need
neither be elaborate nor expensive. The suggestion was thoroughly
ventilated, and as a result it was decided to approach the authorities
with a proposal which was decidedly novel and which was certainly
unprecedented.

Convincing facts and figures were obtained to indicate what the
probable yield from this latest endeavour to turn military waste to
profitable account would be. These estimates took into consideration
the expenditure incurred by the acquisition and operation of the plant
adopted. The proposed outlay was not heavy, but it was felt by those
who had elaborated this latest scheme that to request the authorities
to incorporate it as part and parcel of existing military routine would
defeat the primary principle underlying the idea. It was felt that, if
the enterprise could be rendered profitable under military conditions,
it might lead to its practical application by the civil community. The
impression obtained that the few thousand pounds capital expenditure
which would have to be incurred, together with the revenue, would be
lost among the maze of millions sterling incidental to current military
expenditure, even if it did not suffer actual inclusion, from its
comparative triviality, among “sundry expenses.” In this event all the
lessons to be derived therefrom would be lost. On the other hand if the
enterprise could be kept separate and could be conducted, as desired,
along accepted commercial lines, success would impress the civilian,
and might assist in persuading the municipal and other authorities to
do likewise with the similar raw materials available in plenty from
domestic sources of supply.

Thereupon it was suggested that the War Office should sanction the
formation of a limited liability company to handle this latest
exploitation of the actual swill along orthodox business lines. To
allay any suspicions of private interests profiteering at the expense
of the tax-payer it was recommended that the whole of the capital
should be subscribed, and held, by the authorities, who should also be
invested with the power to appoint the directors, and who should hold
office at the pleasure of the War Office.

The novelty of the proposal was conceded, but the promoters were so
sanguine of achieving success that the requisite sanction was extended.
Thereupon a company was duly registered at Somerset House in due
compliance with the law, with its articles of association complete in
every respect, under the title “Army Waste Products, Limited,” with a
nominal capital of 7s. ($1.75)! That company proved an overwhelming
successful venture from the country’s point of view. Its results
conclusively demonstrated the fact that there are literally millions in
waste.

Small plants were established in military camps in several parts of
the country, and subsequently the system was extended to the army in
France, while the American Expeditionary Force, impressed with its
achievements, embraced the scheme and the plants employed. Operations
were not confined to the treatment of the despised contents of the
swill-tub, but also to the recovery of waste gravy and fats from the
plates, the reclamation of breadcrumbs from the table, sweepings from
the bakery and stores, and of odd crusts which heretofore had found
no application other than as food for the wild birds, as well as the
treatment of bones before they were handed over to the degreasers.

A policy of rigid commercialism was introduced and sedulously followed.
The contents of the swill-tubs, as well as all other waste described
above, were purchased, the prevailing prices being paid so that
other commercial concerns were denied the opportunity of preferring
the charge of unfair trading. Items of rental, wages, as well as
maintenance, depreciation and capitalization charges were also taken
fully into account, while the resultant products were also sold at
market prices, which, as subsequent results revealed, left an ample
margin of profit.

The plant employed, as well as the procedure followed in reclaiming and
working the wastes up into raw material for industrial uses, possesses
many interesting features, and are fully described in the next chapter.



CHAPTER IV

THE RECLAMATION OF MILITARY ORGANIC WASTE


In deciding the type of plant suited to the recovery of military
organic waste regard was specially devoted to two governing principles.
The one was the standardization of plant, so far as was practicable, to
facilitate duplication and installation of the machinery in the various
camps. The second was the selection of such plant as could be installed
readily and cheaply in an improvised building, and which, if the
conditions warranted, would enable a standard type of cheap and simple
building to be adopted.

So far as the initial plants were concerned dependence had to be
placed upon existing structures, otherwise delay in putting the scheme
into practical application would have been inevitable, owing to the
difficulty attending the acquisition of constructional material. But
the installation of the plants in extemporized buildings sufficed to
establish the applicability of the idea to any type of building of
adequate dimensions, and in such a manner as to impose only the minimum
of structural alterations to secure the requisite efficiency. This
adaptability is an outstanding feature, because it indicates how the
recovery of organic waste may be attacked along the most economical yet
comprehensive lines, and with the minimum of capital expenditure and
its concomitant amortization charges.

Two types of plant were adopted, both being standardized. One coincided
with what might be described as the central or permanent waste-recovery
station, while the second presented all the necessary elements of
portability with the added advantages of inexpensive dismantling,
removal, and expeditious reassembling at another point according to
exigencies. But the processes are common to both types.

In the case of the permanent mill which I visited structural
alterations had been reduced to the absolute minimum, the most
conspicuous outlay being the provision of a simple form of elevator to
lift the swill to a level above the plant to permit of gravity feed.
The total cost of this station, including the installation of the
necessary machinery, which included a steam-boiler, bone-crusher, small
engine, melter, centrifugal or turbine fat extractor, and settling
tanks, with one or two further accessories, was only £2,500--$12,500.

The swill is brought to the mill by motor-lorry. Operations are
commenced at an early hour, because health considerations demand that
waste of this character shall be handled with all possible promptitude
in a big camp. The clearance is carried out daily and is complete,
including all garbage, bones and other profit-yielding organic residue
from the cook-house. Segregation is conducted as far as practicable at
the source, special sanitary vessels for distinctive residues being
provided. The mill continues working throughout the day until the whole
of the morning’s collection has been duly treated. No accumulation or
carrying-over of some of one day’s swill to the next day is permitted.
Swill is susceptible to speedy fermentation, especially during hot and
sultry weather, and so would become noisome within a very short period,
as well as developing into an ideal breeding-ground for flies and other
pests.

The contents of the collecting lorries are distinctly heterogeneous,
the vehicles being laden with swill, bones, empty tins, jam and pickle
jars, bottles--in short, anything possessing an element of salvage
value. In segregating the waste at the cook-house special stress is
laid upon the necessity to keep all green vegetable matter, such as
outer leaves, stumps and other inedible trimmings, distinct from the
general swill for the reason explained later.

The swill is transferred by the elevator to the upper level, where it
is dumped into a capacious sink to drain. The proportion of free liquid
is not pronounced, the swill being rather in the nature of a slush,
whatever fat there may be present, apart from the solid pieces, being
either congealed in flakes and globules, either free or clinging to
the more stable substance. The superfluous water having run off the
residue is permitted to fall through a trap into a hopper feeding the
capacious cooker or melter. Where the height of the building does not
permit the provision of an elevated draining sink the swill, dumped at
ground-level, is shovelled into the melter.

The melter is a cylindrical vessel or drum fitted with a steam jacket,
the steam circulating at a pressure of about 80 lb. per square inch
through the annular space between the inner and outer jackets. The
capacity of the vessel is approximately 1,700 pounds, and the contents
are kept agitated during the process by paddles mounted upon a
revolving shaft forming the longitudinal axis of the drum.

The cooking process drives off all remaining moisture in the form of
steam, and, at the same time, liberates whatever fat may be present
by melting and rendering it fluid. It gravitates to the bottom of the
cylinder to make its escape through a suitable vent and pipe into the
settling tank. The last-named is also steam-heated by a coiled pipe
system which not only sterilizes but clarifies the reclaimed fat, which
is then permitted to cool and to solidify.

The swill remains in the drum for 70 to 90 minutes. By the end of this
period the contents have been practically cooked, while all free fat
has effected its escape. It will be observed that the steam does not
come into contact with the contents, but is confined to circulation
between the jackets. When withdrawn from the melter the swill resembles
a stiff slush. This is transferred to a canvas bag to be dropped into
a wire cage forming the inner vessel of the second machine, which is
a vertical turbine extractor. The vessel when charged is closed by
clamping down the lid.

Steam is turned on and the second stage of the fat reclamation process
proceeds. Beneath the wire cage a series of steam jets are radially
disposed in such a manner as to allow the steam to impinge upon the
cage at an angle. The cage itself is supported freely upon a suitable
vertical shaft and so, under the impetus imparted by the steam issuing
from the jets, naturally revolves. By varying the volume and pressure
of the steam the revolving speed of the cage may be varied within wide
limits. Consequently it is possible to give the cage a very high rotary
velocity.

The steam, after performing its mission towards rotating the cage, is
induced to ascend in such a manner as to permeate the contents of the
canvas bag imprisoned within the wire cage. All fatty matter still
associated with the organic material, owing to the high temperature of
the steam, becomes still more fluid. Under the centrifugal action set
up by the high rotary speed of the cage this fat becomes separated from
the solids to be expressed through the pores of the canvas container
and also the perforations of the outer cage, and to be flung against
the inner wall of the extractor. The extreme fluidity of the very
hot grease facilitates and expedites this separation, the expelled
fat finally dropping to the bottom of the vessel to make its escape
through suitable drain holes to pass into the settling tanks previously
mentioned.

Under the whirling action of the turbine quite 91 per cent. of the
fatty content of the mash is extracted and recovered. The treatment
in the turbine extractor is continued until the flow of grease to the
settling tanks is observed to cease, when steam is shut off and the
extractor is emptied. The mash, somewhat resembling peat in consistency
and of a rich chocolate colour, cooked through and through, is spread
upon the floor to cool. Unless one has followed the cycle of operations
one would never associate this odourless, clean, dry and sterilized
product with the repulsive looking slush from the swill-tubs which had
entered the mill barely two hours previously.

This residue constitutes an ideal pig-food. It is rich in the
essentials for building up the frame and flesh of the porker, and as
may be supposed finds a ready sale. It appeals to the farmer because
it is clean to handle, is easier to transport than the conventional
swill, because it can be bagged, while it possesses excellent keeping
qualities. In effect it is a concentrated food, and accordingly can be
broken down by blending with ordinary swill to increase the calories
of the latter as they affect the pig, or it may be used instead of
pig-meal, for which it is an excellent substitute.

Finally, it meets with the farmer’s favour because its fat content,
being only about 9 per cent., coincides more closely with the animal’s
dietetic requirements. It is not surprising, in these circumstances,
that the farmer should be eager to procure as much of this sterilized
food as he can obtain at a fair price. Certainly the authorities
experience no difficulty in regard to its disposal at a remunerative
figure.

The bones, upon reaching the mill, are dumped apart. They represent
waste from the cook-house stripped as cleanly of meat and fat
as a sharp knife in dexterous practised hands will allow. Their
gravy-yielding and other nutritious constituents have been extracted
from prolonged sojourn in the stock-pots. When they reach the
swill-mill they appear to be as capable of rendering any further
contribution to the general scheme as those bones which have passed
through the hands of a frugal housewife. They have reached the stage
when such refuse is either thrown into the kitchen fire, dust-bin, or
handed over to the peripatetic rag-and-bone monger.

Yet they still possess distinct fat value, but it can only be wrung out
by drastic effort. The bones are first passed through a crusher to be
reduced to small size. At times the bone-dump from the cook-house will
be found to be swollen by the dismantled framework of what was once
a horse or some other animal, and which is to be passed through the
fat reclamation factory. The crushed bones are submitted to the same
process as the swill, being passed through the melter and extractor
successively. The combined action of cooking and whizzing brings about
a far more impressive release of fat than may possibly be imagined.
Furthermore, cooking and whirling effectively release all slender
strings and shreds of fat which may have escaped the butcher’s sharp
knife, while clinging tatters of meat and sinew are also thoroughly
cooked. Upon withdrawal from the extractor the bones are thrown over a
riddle, this action being sufficient to detach all shreds of fibrous
matter which fall through the meshes of the sieve.

The bones are now ready for dispatch to the degreasers. The loose
fibrous residue resulting from riddling is collected for subsequent use
in the preparation of poultry foods. Seeing that the treatment of the
bones in this mill is pursued for the express purpose of reclaiming
only the loose and easily secured fat and grease there is no conflict
with industry. The degreasers are concerned rather with the recovery of
fat resistant to ordinary salvage methods, as well as glue, size, and
many other commodities involving the submission of the bone waste to
many special processes, the ultimate residue being ground up to form a
fertilizer.

The fat, after cooking, clarification, and solidification, presents an
attractive, odourless, sterilized mass. This is dispatched to the trade
for resolution into tallow, glycerine, and the requisite basic material
for the production of soap.

I mentioned that, in the segregation of the wastes at the cook-house,
special emphasis is laid upon the necessity to prevent the combination
of all green vegetable refuse with the swill. This is essential,
because in the subsequent cooking operation the dye from the green
waste is extracted as every housewife knows, and, mingling with the
fat, will steep the latter a pronounced greenish hue. This detracts
very pronouncedly from the value of the fat because the dye, being
of vegetable origin, cannot possibly be eliminated in the subsequent
manufacturing operations through which the fat is passed. On the other
hand, the deep yellow tinge which is likely to result from the presence
of curry waste in the swill is not deleterious because it can be
readily discharged.

For some time the disposal of the green vegetable waste presented a
thorny problem. Farmers were not prepared to purchase it with the
ordinary cooked pig-food, for the simple reason that they already
possessed a surfeit of this refuse in their fields. Cremation appeared
to be the only possible solution of the difficulty, the accumulations
being somewhat formidable, but as a result of experiment the difficulty
was very neatly and profitably overcome. This garbage, together with
other waste of a comparative character, is subjected to a desiccating
process to yield a product which is adapted to association with other
approved by-products, without depreciating the pecuniary or other value
of the whole, for poultry feeding.

Both plant and processes are extremely simple. Nor is a pretentious
staff required. Six men suffice to attend to an installation capable of
dealing with the swill contributed daily by a unit of 15,000 men. One
hand tends the engine and boiler for the supply of steam and power; two
men are responsible for the conduct of the melter; while two additional
men wait upon the turbine extractor. The sixth man is retained to
operate the bone crusher. This staff need only be increased, as the
volume of work rises from any accretion to the camp, to the extent of
one man for every additional 5,000 soldiers.

The wastage of bread, for the most part inadvertently, is far heavier
than may be supposed. Possibly the heaviest proportion of waste arises
from unconscious crumbling of the article during conversation at the
table. Observation revealed that the accumulation of such crumbs and
crusts was pronounced, while it was also discovered that a heavy
contribution was extended by the bakery as the result of cutting up the
loaves. The loss of flour incurred during the preparation of the bread
and pastry was also found to be appreciable.

Thereupon it was decided to reclaim all bread waste and flour residues.
The crumbs, together with the odd crusts and other small fragments, are
collected, while the bakery floors and tables are regularly swept to
yield grist to the salvage harvest. Moreover, despite the observance
of all possible precautions to avoid waste, accidents are unavoidable.
Occasionally a batch of bread is ruined in the baking. Being unfit
for human consumption it is handed over to the salvage department to
be worked up into readily marketable products instead of suffering
destruction as was formerly the practice.

Bread and flour waste is subjected to a simple and inexpensive
roasting treatment and is then roughly graded. The larger fragments
and condemned loaves are reduced to a convenient size, while the
finer material is reduced to a meal. The granulated residue is
absorbed by the firms specializing in the manufacture of compounded
proprietary poultry foods, entering into the composition thereof to
approximately 20 per cent., which experience has proved to represent
an excellent balance. During the war this granulated waste, sold in
bulk, realized about 1¹⁄₈d. (2¹⁄₄ cents) per lb., plus an additional
charge of 10 per cent. to cover administration expenses. The coarser
grade of waste proved to be an excellent feed for horses--superior to
oats--and consequently was somewhat in demand at 1³⁄₄d. (3¹⁄₂ cents)
per lb., the availability of such feed during the period when horses
were necessarily rationed owing to the shortage of the conventional
feeding-stuffs being keenly appreciated. In this instance the extra
charge on account of administration expenses was also made.

Other expressions of military “save-the-waste” activity cover the
recovery of tins, bottles, and jars. But the difficulties concerning
transport somewhat adversely affected success in this direction
for a time. The preserve and pickle manufacturers intimated their
readiness to accept all bottles and jars owing to the short supply
of new receptacles of this character, but for some time it was found
impossible to spare the requisite carrying facilities. The provision of
canned and bottled comestibles does not enter into the official scheme
of rations, the supply of such articles, “extras,” being conducted
through the Navy and Army Canteen Board, which, as a protection,
imposes a charge upon all jars and bottles sold to the canteen attached
to a unit. As a result every care is observed to preserve these
vessels to avoid any financial loss arising from their non-return.
Consequently, consignments of empty jars and bottles are generally
returned intact, such losses as are incurred being unavoidable, and, in
the main are due to accidental breakage.

An effort was also made to discover a possible commercial outlet for
spent tea-leaves. This beverage is particularly popular in the army,
and the accumulation of this waste is enormous. At one period the
Home Commands were called upon to handle over 13,500,000 pounds of
this refuse a month. The thought was entertained that the extraction
of the caffeine from this residue might prove a profitable venture,
but the experiments were inconclusive, and so the proposal was
abandoned. Then the circumstance that the tea-leaves carry a certain
proportion of potash suggested another line of application--conversion
into fertilizer. But here again success failed to be recorded. The
profitable exploitation of spent tea-leaves still awaits conclusive
resolution. But it happens to be one of those problems beset with
supreme difficulties, while it is imperative that every precaution
should be observed to prevent this waste finding its way into
unscrupulous hands to be turned to base account to the disadvantage of
the community.

I have already mentioned that, while every effort was made to recover
the uttermost ounce of fat-yielding residue from the kitchens, every
encouragement was extended to the troops to cultivate the consumption
of the nourishing dripping. Although it would seem as if these two
recommendations were in utter conflict, no such trouble as might
have been anticipated has been recorded. The troops appreciated the
concession, and the request for this fat has led to considerable
fertility of thought and individual resource among the officers of the
various units. Such initiative received commendation from headquarters
because it not only contributed to the economical consumption of food
in the army, but reacted to the advantage of the civil population
who, unable to obtain dripping owing to the rigorous meat rationing
in operation, were compelled to depend upon butter and margarine
for their fat requirements. The increasing consumption of dripping
by the soldiers to whom it was readily available served to permit
increased quantities of the restricted supplies of other articles to be
distributed among the community.

In one cook-house I witnessed an interesting method to increase the
dripping yield. A big pail had been filled with little shreds of
fat and meat, shaved and scraped by the cooks from the bones of the
freshly-cut-up quarters of beef. This pail was placed within an outer
vessel containing water, the improvised double saucepan then being
placed upon the hot stove. As the water boiled the fat clinging to
the shreds of fibre dissolved, while the meat-juices also became
dissociated from the fibre under the influence of the heat. Boiling was
continued until the whole of the fat had melted, when the vessel was
removed and set upon one side to cool. The fat solidified at the top
to yield a fine chunk of appetizing rich dripping, while immediately
beneath was a jellied mass of gravy and disintegrated meat-fibre,
forming a concentrated beef-tea. The dripping was reserved for issuance
in lieu of butter and margarine, while the jelly sediment was set upon
one side to improve the contents of steak-pies, puddings, and other
savoury dishes.

The soldier is also a gourmet for cheese. But exigencies of war
speedily elevated this comestible to the status of a luxury, even
in the army. Unfortunately the average cheese does not lend itself
to economic use. It is friable, the loss in crumbs being somewhat
pronounced, while the rind is lost.

An officer conceived an ingenious idea to persuade the cheese to go
farther, and in such a manner as to eliminate all possibility of waste.
A whole cheese was taken, thoroughly washed and cleaned. It was then
placed in a mill with a quantity of dripping, the proportion being
60 per cent. of the former to 40 per cent. of the latter. The two
constituents were then pulped and blended together.

The resultant product was distinctly surprising. The cheddar cheese
was converted, by compounding with the animal fat, into a delicious
cream-like article of the consistency of butter, allowing it to be
spread upon bread and biscuits. The flavour was distinctly improved;
indeed, the soldiers expressed a decided preference for this blended
food. Its nutritive value cannot be gainsaid, because it carries all
the virtues of the cheese plus those incidental to rich animal fat.

By this simple expedient all wastage of cheese was overcome. Even the
rind, generally conceded to represent the richest part of the product,
was used, being thoroughly disintegrated, macerated and blended with
the dripping by passage through the little mill. Not only did the
officer reduce the item for the consumption of cheese by his unit to
a very significant degree, but he achieved the desired end without
penalizing the men to the slightest degree.

The process is so simple that it might even be emulated to profit by
the thrifty housewife. The kitchen mincing machine will suffice for the
purpose. It is only necessary to pulp and to blend the two constituents
thoroughly together. It certainly offers a means of inducing a pound
of cheese to go as far as, if not farther than, a pound and a half has
ever gone before.

In so far as the arrest of the elusive fat was concerned there remained
only one other possible avenue of escape demanding interruption. This
was the sink where all plates, dishes, and cooking utensils in general
are washed. In the first effort to secure this contribution the hot
water carrying the desired material was led into a pit. Here the fat
collected in the form of a scum, which was skimmed off at intervals and
sent to the swill mill for further treatment. But this crude method
gave way to one more in consonance with modern ideas. The fat is now
caught at the gully.

One device I saw installed to achieve this end was of an extremely
simple character. It comprised a wooden box, about three feet in length
by one foot in width, and about two feet in depth. It was subdivided
into three cells by two partitions, which, however, did not extend to
the full depth of the box. The pipe from the sink entered the box at
one end while the outlet to the drain was placed at the opposite end.
The box was filled with cold water, which need only be renewed when the
box is emptied for cleaning and flushing, since normally it is kept
charged with the water coming from the sink. The hot water bearing the
fat circulates through the three cells and finally, upon reaching a
certain level, passes into the drainage system.

But during its passage through the box the hot water becomes so
effectively chilled as to be compelled to release any fat which it
may be carrying. This congeals and rises to the surface. Within a
short time the top of each cell is crusted with a thick layer of solid
fat which may be removed as frequently as desired. The box not only
constitutes an efficient and simple, as well as inexpensive, fat-trap,
but also acts as a water seal to the sink, thus preventing all nuisance
or fouling of the sink pipe.

The amount of fat capable of being retrieved in this manner is
certainly startling. The fat-trap which I saw fitted to one of the
sinks of an army cook-house yielded several pounds of fat every
day--sheer waste recovered from washing plates, pots and pans. The
fat is dispatched to the swill-mill to be passed through the melter
and extractor in the usual manner, thereby undergoing thorough
clarification and sterilization. The recovery during the course of
the year of several thousand pounds of fat which otherwise would have
vanished down the drain, by the introduction of a small wooden box
such as I have described, represents no mean achievement. Certainly
it serves to bring home the losses which are incurred at this point
in every house during the twelve months. The device might profitably
be installed at every sink by every householder. The few shillings
involved by its provision would be quickly recouped, because the fat
always has a market. Moreover, the introduction of this device would
contribute towards the efficiency of the drain, keeping it clear and
free to fulfil its designed function.

That it pays to recover all fats and greases lost to consumption or
permitted to escape because it is merely residue is conclusively borne
out by the results recorded in connection with the military operations
which I have described. During the year 1917 the fats--waste--reclaimed
from the Home Commands of the British Army yielded 13,000 tons of
tallow. The value of all the by-products recovered from the refuse was
£700,000--$3,500,000. The cost of securing this waste for commercial
exploitation, including the extra pay extended in the form of bonus to
the cooks, and other allowances, was £400,000--$2,000,000--leaving a
balance of £300,000--$1,500,000--which was returned to the public.

As previously mentioned, the fats were urgently needed to furnish
glycerine for the manufacture of munitions. One ton of crude fat yields
10 per cent. of glycerine, so that 1,300 tons of this indispensable
article were derived from this one source of supply. The fat was sold
to the bone-degreasers and the soap manufacturers, who effected the
recovery of the glycerine, selling the product to the Ministry of
Munitions at the agreed price of £59 10s. to £63--$297.50 to $315--per
ton, as compared with £300--$1,500--per ton which we should have been
compelled to pay had we bought the glycerine upon the open market.

Here was a direct saving of £237 to £240 10s.--$1,185 to $1,202.50--per
ton. Altogether the purchase of glycerine recovered from military
organic waste represented a saving of £312,650--$1,563,250--because
the nation obtained for £77,350--$386,750--what otherwise would
have cost £390,000--$1,950,000. This figure is not quite complete
because, inspired by the success achieved from the milling of the
swill at home, the army in France established similar stations
behind the lines upon the other side of the Channel. When these were
brought into operation the shipment of fat and grease recovered
from the organic waste of the British Expeditionary Force in France
represented 5,000 tons a year, whence 500 tons of glycerine were
derived. The 5,000 tons of fat won from the swill-tubs of the army in
France realized £140,000--$700,000--while the total saving recorded
under the heading of glycerine secured from army waste fat was
augmented to £432,000--$2,160,000. During the year in question the
aggregate financial economies directly secured from the exploitation
of organic army waste, in conjunction with the introduction of ways
and means to reduce the yield of such residue from the observance of
improved culinary methods and reduced consumption of foodstuffs was
approximately £5,626,000--$28,130,000. Finally, to demonstrate the
value of this contribution to the aggressive resources of this country,
it may be stated that the 1,800 tons of glycerine derived from the
18,000 tons of tallow recovered from the army swill-tubs, rendered
it possible to turn out sufficient nitro-glycerine to serve as the
propellant charges for 18,000,000 eighteen-pounder shells.

The success accomplished with the army waste fat and grease prompts
the obvious inquiry as to why comparative methods cannot be adopted in
civilian circles. The average household has but little conception of
the value of its fat losses. It should not be an impossible task to
segregate the waste from the house at the source, and to submit it to
similar treatment. The majority of our civic and municipal authorities
possess buildings which could readily be adapted to the installation
of the necessary plant, and the capital outlay therefore need not be
heavy. The disposal of the various by-products would not be attended by
any difficulty. True, under war conditions abnormal prices ruled, but
even to-day they are attractive and are likely to continue to remain so
for an appreciable time to come.

Of course, the municipal authorities could not aspire to net such
profits as are possible in the army. In the first place the wage
problem must be taken into consideration. Under military conditions
this does not arise. Fatigue parties are always available to collect
the swill and to conduct its conversion into fat. But even if the
practice were pursued at a loss it would redound to the distinct
benefit of the community in general, because it would comply with one
of the fundamental laws of National Economy and would conduce towards
the reduction in the cost of living. But unprofitable exploitation
would not result so long as the methods were conducted along commercial
lines. Ineptitude and wastage in administration and operation alone
could be responsible for any such eventuality in this connection.
Happily we are becoming wiser in our knowledge: domestic organic waste
is now being exploited on broader lines, as I relate in subsequent
chapters.



CHAPTER V

INVENTION IN ITS APPLICATION TO WASTE RECOVERY


The necessity to conserve our industrial resources, which is so
pronounced to-day, is acting as a powerful stimulant to inventive
effort. The mere circumstance that approved apparatus exist for the
reclamation of wastes and are readily available to those of a thrifty
or enterprising turn of mind no longer suffices to meet the situation.
In the past we have been content to practise waste recovery along what
may be described as satisfactory lines, but satisfactory only in so far
as they represented an attempt to turn refuse to commercial account. In
many instances the appliances employed have only been extemporized and,
as may be imagined, are far from being efficient. They only enable a
certain proportion of the available materials to be recovered. In many
instances residues treated for fats have carried away just as much of
the essential article after treatment as were actually recovered. In
other words, the work was only half completed: the system followed has
been unable to give a higher yield owing to errors in its design and
construction.

Waste recovery as it should be practised to-day is a science. It is
just as precise a science as the extraction of nitrogen from the
atmosphere, the smelting of steel, or the production of artificial
silk. Hit-and-miss methods may have sufficed during the years when
commodities were cheap and plentiful, but to-day there is a world-wide
stringency in the supply of anything and everything necessary to
commerce. As a consequence prices are ruling high, and so the practice
of waste recovery along extremely well-defined scientific lines is
essential.

The harnessing of science to this peculiar industry is imperative for
more reasons than one. As the process of extraction, say of fats,
is pushed to its logical conclusion, the task becomes more and more
exacting and expensive, demanding the employment of refined methods.
It is far more difficult to draw from the material the last ounce
of possibly reclaimable fat than to whip out the first ounce. The
last-named is surrendered readily, but to recover the first-named
enormous persuasive effort is entailed.

But it is the uttermost ounce which the scientist is determined to
obtain. Easy conquest does not appeal to his well-ordered mind, and
so we see a spirited struggle in progress to increase efficiency. At
the same time in attaining this eminent factor the inventor must keep
his eye and hand upon the issue of cost. If it is going to cost more
to extract the last absolute ounce than that ounce is worth, then the
effort is futile. Commercialism, which considers inventive ingenuity
merely from the angle of pounds, shillings and pence, or dollars and
cents as the case may be, is not impressed by the mere beauty of any
process or apparatus.

The financial issue is surveyed from every possible angle--capital
outlay, fuel consumption, simplicity of operation, maintenance charges,
depreciation, renewals, and labour. Any one of these several factors
may be sufficient to cause the refusal of an advocated process, while
should they be experienced cumulatively then the likelihood of the
process being adopted is extremely remote. Waste recovery is such a
sensitive range of endeavour as to prevent all consideration along
philanthropic lines.

An instance in point may be narrated to indicate how perplexing and
intricate the problem is. As is well-known, wood, in common with
all vegetation, carries a certain proportion of alcohol, a product
in keen demand for numerous industries. It is also common knowledge
that in working wood enormous waste is incurred, notably in the
form of sawdust. This fact induced inventors to attack the problem
of extracting the alcoholic content from this residue. Laboratory
experiment confirmed the practicability of the project, and even went
so far as to indicate how the idea might be commercially developed.

But there is a tremendous gulf between the laboratory and the factory.
It was many years ago that the possibility of extracting alcohol from
wood first aroused the serious attention of the industrial chemists.
They are still wrestling with the problem. Time after time the world is
startled by the announcement of a new and inexpensive process for the
distillation of alcohol from wood and the prospect of extracting whisky
and other popular beverages from sawdust excites intense interest.
But, metaphorically speaking, nine days later a strange silence is
encountered. The new process has vanished from aught but a memory of
much claimed but nothing forthcoming. Fortunes have been sunk and lost
in the attempts to solve this momentous problem, and it is probable,
from the state of knowledge and the stage of experiment at the moment
attained, that many millions more will be expended before commercial
success is achieved. One of the greatest obstacles to the realization
of the chemist’s dream has been the extremely high temperatures to
which resort has to be made, which plays sad havoc with the plant
involved, and the charges incident to the renewal of which are so heavy
as to render the financial outlook extremely depressing. Even the
conditions of war, which scouted all considerations of expense, have
not carried us an inch forward. We built one factory to conduct the
distillation of wood for the alcohol which was so sorely needed, and
planned a second installation. The first factory was promptly abandoned
after the signing of the armistice, while the second factory was never
completed, owing to the indifferent results achieved with the conduct
of the initial plant.

Similar experiences may be narrated in many other fields of attempted
waste recovery. Fortunately, however, for every dismal failure recorded
a dozen or more overwhelming triumphs can be related. It is this
circumstance which induces the experimenter to persevere upon his
ventures of discovery. But this is not the only satisfactory feature
of success in this field. The spirit of rivalry is so keen that the
industrial chemist and the chemical engineer are for ever striving
might and main to improve the methods which they have evolved, and
in the determination to secure the uttermost ounce of the elusive
fat, they proceed to extreme lengths. The eternal quest for improved
efficiency is not confined to the extraction of fats; it is equally
applicable to the recovery of other products in keen demand and
commanding an attractive market price, but I select fat as an example
because it is familiar to all.

Moreover, in elaborating his fruitful thoughts the investigator is
compelled to bear in mind varying conditions. Accordingly he must
adapt his ideas to the prevailing requirements. Obviously it would be
inexpedient to concentrate perfecting effort upon one definite system.
The plant involved may necessitate a capital outlay possible only to
the wealthy firm or city, and utterly beyond the small man anxious to
embark upon such an enterprise, or be impracticable to the average
town, to which the plant, owing to the limited volume of material to be
handled, would never justify the probable expense.

In these circumstances we see plants and methods being adapted to
varying demands so that the reclamation of the urgently required fats,
oils and greases may be pursued by one and all. In a previous chapter,
describing the recovery of these commodities from the swill-tubs of
the army, I referred to one system which is wholly mechanical in its
operation. In this instance success depends essentially upon the
centrifugal turbine extractor or “whizzer,” which it must be admitted
has proved exceedingly attractive in application. For this reason the
“Iwel” system, as it is called, has met with conspicuous success and
wide application, being found in every industry.

But there is another system, or rather wide range of systems, known as
the Scott, differing entirely from the one already mentioned. This,
too, is of British origin and construction, and compels attention from
its applicability to every possible requirement as well as adaptability
to every conceivable condition, from the factory handling only a few
thousand pounds of miscellaneous fat-carrying refuse a day, to the
huge packing plants to be found upon the American continent, both
North and South, Australia and New Zealand, where the accumulations of
fresh fat are imposing, and where the necessity for prompt big-scale
treatment to secure the attractive prices ruling for high-grade fats is
so obvious. The operations of the firm under review demand additional
attention inasmuch as, through the combined efforts of its chemists and
engineers, it has been able to evolve and perfect a process which is
distinctly remarkable, seeing that it enables all but 1 per cent. of
the fat contained in the crude refuse to be reclaimed, and in such a
manner as to render the method completely profitable.

The Scott systems, fundamentally, are three in number. In the one the
waste animal products are digested with open steam in conjunction
with a vacuum; the second method comprises the _dry_ rendering of
edible fats under vacuum; while the third practice is the extraction
of the grease by what is known as the solvent system. Each possesses
its individual features, making direct appeal to the situation to
which it is most eminently adapted, and, to a certain degree, the
three respective methods may be said to represent an equal number
of progressive strides towards maximum efficiency, with the solvent
process constituting the pinnacle of success so far achieved in this
province from the simple fact that it reduces the loss of fat to 1 per
cent. absolute.

However, it is difficult to lay down any hard-and-fast rule concerning
the selection of any of these three processes because, in deciding
a question of this character, full consideration must be given to
the class of material to be handled. For instance, although the
dry rendering system under vacuum is especially applicable for the
reclamation of edible fats, it is not to say that the first, or open
steam, process is only adapted to the production of non-edible fats.
As a matter of fact there are certain classes of offal which are not
suited to dry steam rendering. The fat contained in such refuse can
be most advantageously extracted only by the open steam process.
This particularly applies to the offal produced in the large killing
establishments, where such refuse can be dealt with in the fresh
condition.

The dry steam rendering process is particularly applicable to the
production of fine or high grade edible fats. The finest fat recovered
from an animal source is that known as “Oleo” margarine or “Premier
Jus.” This is rendered from the very finest crude fat obtainable,
and in order to ensure super quality being obtained the conventional
treatment is one demanding extreme care so that its inherent qualities
may not suffer the slightest injury. The general practice is to mince
the raw material very finely and then to treat it in hot water-jacketed
pans at a very low temperature, every attention being observed to
prevent the temperature rising above a rigidly predetermined point.
In these circumstances it will readily be observed that the process
is necessarily somewhat costly and occupies appreciable time. But by
means of the dry rendering process under vacuum the raw material may
be subjected to very high temperatures, and that without the product
being impaired in any way. In fact, it is equal in every respect to
that obtained by the orthodox process, while, of course, it is far more
expeditious and cheaper.

The plant necessary to the vacuum system is simple. It comprises a
cylinder or boiler called a digester, into which the offal to be
treated is placed. Under the wet steam process and after the vessel
has been closed a vacuum is created. Open steam then is admitted into
the digester and in such a way as to enable the steam to pass upwards
through the mass, thereby thoroughly permeating it. Naturally the hot
steam renders the fat fluid, that which is free running readily to the
attached tanks.

Rendering is conducted under a pressure varying from 20 lb. to 40
lb. as the case may be, but the lower the pressure the better. The
application of the vacuum to the process constitutes the crux of the
invention. At first sight the advantages of the principle may not
be readily apparent, but they may be simply explained. In the first
instance the creation of vacuum conditions effects the removal of the
greatest obstruction to the influence of heat, namely air. If this be
eliminated cooking can be conducted at a much lower temperature than
would otherwise be practicable. Fat, indeed all animal matter, carries
a certain proportion of moisture and this must be withdrawn before
the actual release of the commodity can be effected. In vacuum water
boils at a temperature below one-half of that required at ordinary
atmospheric pressure. In other words, instead of the boiling-point
of water being 212 degrees Fahrenheit, as is the case with the
kettle on the hob, it will boil at less than 106 degrees Fahrenheit.
Consequently, if a high vacuum be established within the digester the
latent water can be converted into steam to assist in the melting
process proper, which then can be conducted unhampered. Temperature,
moreover, exercises a decisive influence upon the quality of the
product, this being very superior in quality when the recovery is
carried out at a low degree.

Another point to be noted is that all noisome odours which are thrown
off during cooking, and which cannot be avoided, are exhausted from
the vessel. They are not allowed to escape into the open air, but
are led to the furnace to be discharged into the hottest part of the
fire. They have to ascend through the incandescent fuel resting upon
the fire-bars, and, since they are not allowed to become mixed with
air, must undergo complete combustion. Consequently no pollution of
the atmosphere can possibly result from the treatment of even the most
rancid offal. It being impossible to construe the operation into a
nuisance, the plant can be installed at any convenient point even in
a densely-settled area in safety, because the system fully complies
with all the rigid requirements of the local sanitary authorities and
health officers. This is a most important feature and one which will
be readily appreciated when one recalls the insufferable conditions
precipitated by the recovery of fats and greases from refuse under the
old systems.

But the outstanding characteristic of the vacuum system is the
increased yield of fat forthcoming. No mechanical system, whether
it be pressure or high-speed whizzing, can extend completely
satisfactory efficiency results. As is well known, the fat entering
into the constitution of animal matter is contained in myriads of
minute cells which are surrounded by tissue. The walls of these cells
are exceedingly elastic and of prodigious strength. They may be
compressed to an inordinately intense degree in a press, or distorted
and stretched by recourse to centrifugal action without breaking. It
is this circumstance which reacts against a high recovery of fat by
recourse to pressing and whizzing because the cells cannot be induced
to burst.

When a vacuum is applied a totally different result is recorded. The
application of heat causes the fat and air within the tiny cells to
expand, and in this manner the walls of the cells become distended to
the limits of their elasticity. The removal of the surrounding air
within the vessel by the vacuum pump completely upsets all equilibrium.
The air pressure within the cells is higher than that applied from
without, and consequently there results an accentuated expansive effort
within the cells. But the tissue has already been stretched to its
utmost limit, and so being unable to withstand the increased strain
imposed collapses, thus releasing the imprisoned air and fat. Under the
vacuum process the disruption of the fat-carrying cells is complete,
and this explains why an augmented yield of fat is obtained by this
method.

Under the open steam vacuum process the actual practice is to apply
the vacuum three times at intervals during the operation. The first
application serves to remove the obstructive air to facilitate
and expedite cooking of the contents. The second brings about the
disruption of the cells and the release of the fat which they contain.
The third application of the vacuum, which is effected towards the end
of the process, effects the withdrawal of the foul vapours arising from
the digesting operation and their discharge into the fire.

Owing to the steam being admitted to the digester and being allowed to
come into direct contact with the mass, the residue upon withdrawal
is wet. The grease, which has been rendered fluid in the process,
has escaped from the digester through a suitable draining pipe into
a tank where settlement and clarification are carried out. But all
the grease cannot be recovered in this manner. A certain proportion,
notwithstanding the disruption of the fat cells, is held up in the
mass and can only be recovered to an appreciable degree by submitting
the residue to treatment in a press. In this way the greater part of
the remaining fat suffers expulsion and recovery. The wet cakes upon
removal from the press then have to be dried and disintegrated.

The dry vacuum process, which is essentially adapted to the rendering
of edible fat, has many advantages over the wet steam method. Whilst
the plant employed is broadly similar to that employed in the process
already described, there is one notable difference. The digester is
enveloped in an outer shell or jacket, and the steam is circulated
through the space between the two walls. It is not brought into
contact with the contents of the digester at any stage of the process.
The action taking place within the vessel during the operation is
precisely the same as when the steam is brought into direct contact
with the refuse, the fat being rendered fluid by the heat and the cells
undergoing disruption by the creation of the vacuum. A high vacuum is
maintained throughout the whole rendering process. Consequently the
moisture inherent to the raw material is withdrawn as rapidly as it is
converted into steam, resulting in the production of a fine edible fat
totally free from moisture. Moreover, the residue withdrawn from the
digester at the end of the process, known as “crackling” or “greaves,”
is likewise quite free from moisture, although, as in the case of that
resulting from the open steam process, an appreciable proportion of
fat is held up in the mass which can only be recovered to a pronounced
degree by the application of pressure.

The dry steam or jacketed vacuum process is especially adapted to
the treatment of fresh fat waste, the reclaimed product of which is
primarily intended for the preparation of edible foodstuffs, such as
oleo-margarine. By carrying out reclamation without bringing the steam
into contact with the fat several distinct advantages are obtained,
the most important being the retention of the natural properties of
the fat, and no loss of glycerine which otherwise is inevitable to a
certain degree. Consequently, it is an ideal process for the treatment
of the “Premier Jus.” There is no need to mince the fat finely, as in
the orthodox rendering process, it being necessary only to cut the
waste roughly for charging the digester.

A special press has been devised for the treatment of the crackling or
greaves. It is of the cage type which allows the fat, during pressure,
and which operation is carried out while the residue is very hot, to
be expressed between the bars of the cage to fall into a trough for
recovery. The cakes, after pressing, are dry, excellent in quality,
light in colour and of attractive flavour, a result due to the fact
that the tissues have not been scorched or charred in any way during
the rendering process. The greaves constitute an excellent ingredient
for the preparation of kennel and poultry foods, and enter extensively
into the manufacture of dog-cakes. In a few instances the dry greaves,
owing to their high nutritive value, are served to the kennel in the
straight form as they issue from the press.

While the dry vacuum process is certainly efficient, it does not
fully comply with the latest ideas pertaining to the recovery of fats
from organic waste. The press is the weak link, because thereby it is
only possible to recover a certain proportion of the fat held up in
the mass, even when the cellular construction has been completely
broken up. It is stated, as a result of accumulated experience, that
the amount of fat left in the greaves may run up to as high as 10 per
cent. of the original fatty content of the offal: in many instances
it has been found to range as high as 20 per cent. The fact that this
remaining fat defying reclamation by pressing must be relatively high
is evident from the readiness with which certain waste exploiters will
buy up the greaves, not to turn them into kennel and poultry foods, but
to submit them to further treatment in order to wring out still more of
the fat which they carry.

This manifestation of enterprise has been rendered possible by the
advance of the science of fat recovery from offal to such a level as to
enable 9 per cent. of the fat remaining in a 10 per cent. greaves to
be extracted. It is the prevailing high price commanded by fats which
renders such additional treatment upon an extensive scale so attractive
and eminently profitable.

The process in question is the Scott solvent recovery invention to
which I have referred, and which represents the greatest achievement
yet recorded in the whole science of fat reclamation from organic
waste. The process was perfected and patented shortly before the war,
and although hostilities militated against its immediate and rapid
development, thereby delaying the recognition of its overwhelming
virtues, it is satisfactory to learn that many plants operating upon
this principle have been laid down, not only in this country, but in
other parts of the world. It is the process which at the moment is
arousing the most intense interest, owing to the progressive stride
which it represents in this field.

The process is delightfully simple, although apparently it involves an
intricate plant and demands a higher level of skilled labour, but where
the work of reclamation is conducted along ambitious lines it cannot be
excelled. Briefly described, it turns upon the employment of benzine,
or some other equally volatile solvent which, as we all know, will
readily dissolve fat and absorb it. What can be done with this agent is
familiar to every housewife who practises the removal of grease spots
and other unsightly marks from clothing by the aid of benzine, while it
is the medium whereby dry-cleaning is rendered practicable.

The raw material--condemned meat, offal and other organs of the animal
recovered from the slaughter-house which possess no edible value--is
charged into a steam-jacketed horizontal extractor fitted with stirring
gear. When condemned carcasses are to be treated there is no need
to carry out preliminary deboning; it is merely necessary to reduce
the material to rough pieces for convenience of handling. It will be
observed that the steam is not brought into contact with the mass, but
is circulated through the jacket as in the dry vacuum process.

The solvent is introduced in the first instance in the form of
vapour, being passed through boxes of special construction, to pass
finally into the extractor. The contents of the latter being in a
condition of constant agitation as a result of the manipulation of the
stirring gear, the benzine vapour is able to permeate the mass. The
heat radiated from the steam circulating through the jacket converts
the moisture present in the material into vapour and with which the
solvent comes into contact. Vaporization of the moisture causes the
solvent itself to condense to a certain degree, and in the liquid form
it dissolves out the grease. The process is continued until the bulk
of the moisture has been eliminated, when the grease and solvent are
withdrawn. When the grease has been fully extracted down to a limit
which will result in a dry meat-meal, containing about 1 per cent. of
grease, the benzine is steamed off in the usual manner. The benzine
itself is recovered because it is only permitted to work in a closed
circuit, and, after fulfilling its purpose, is passed to a still to be
cleaned and purified, after which it is again passed to the extractor
to repeat the cycle of operation.

The process, it will be observed, is continuous, while the benzine
may be used over and over again. All that is required is to place
a sufficient quantity of the solvent into the circuit to carry
out the operation with the essential efficiency. Naturally, the
quantity involved varies with the size of the plant and the work to
be fulfilled, but it may run up to 5,000 or more gallons. The plant
is generally laid out upon the unit principle, which is the most
satisfactory, because it facilitates the adaptation of the installation
to the volume of work in hand. One or more units can be shut down
during the “off” period, allowing the remainder to be worked up to
their full capacity, which, of course, is the most efficient and
economical method. The losses of benzine are very low--not exceeding
1 per cent. of the weight of the raw material treated. In fact, there
are many installations in operation where, over a period of one year,
the benzine loss recorded is actually below 1 per cent. This factor is
vitally influenced by the care and attention bestowed upon the plant.
If it be carefully tended, all joints being kept in the tightly packed
condition, and the condenser maintained in a high degree of efficiency,
the benzine loss may be reduced to an infinitesimal degree, the value
thereof representing but an insignificant fraction of the value of the
increased yield of oil and fat.

The solvent acts upon the grease only. It does not affect in any way
the gelatinous material, and, consequently, the nitrogenous or ammonia
value of the ultimate meal is considerably enhanced as compared with
the results achieved with the digesting plant. The meal is discharged
from the extractor in a dry crisp condition ready for immediate
grinding, and is admirably adapted for poultry and cattle feeding. No
traces of the benzine remain.

The bones may be ground immediately, if desired, but if these should
be forthcoming in sufficient quantity they should be passed on to the
glue and gelatine plant. There is no necessity to submit them to a
further degreasing process, because this has been completed in the one
operation in the extractor. As a rule, however, with installations
devoted to the treatment of condemned meat and other offal, the bones
are not forthcoming in sufficient quantities to justify the attachment
of a glue recovery plant although, of course, they can be sold to other
works specializing in this work. It is merely a question as to whether
it would pay to transport the degreased bones to the glue works. If
not, they can be ground up to be utilized as fertilizer, for which, it
is needless to say, a good price can be obtained.

The recovery of fat down to 1 per cent. of that contained in the crude
material does not constitute the only outstanding advantage of the
solvent extraction process. It enables the whole of the operations
to be condensed into one task, completely dispensing with all
auxiliary apparatus. The refuse is merely charged into the extractor
and withdrawn in the form of powder, and, if condemned carcasses
have been exploited, bone as well. What this means may readily be
realized. Under the open steam digesting system--even with the wet
and dry vacuum systems to a lesser degree--the refuse must first be
cooked. The material upon withdrawal from the digester must be passed
through the press, after which treatment it has to be disintegrated
and dried. If the reclamation of the gelatinous or “stick” liquor, as
it is called, be part of the process this also demands handling. Thus
one may safely anticipate having to conform with five distinct and
separate operations, involving intermediate handling and supplementary
plant, while the loss of fat in passing from stage to stage is far
heavier than may possibly be imagined. But, with the solvent extraction
process, the numerous above-mentioned operations are resolved into
one, and one only--the charging of the extractor with the refuse. The
saving in labour by the elimination of all interhandling is obvious,
which in these days of enhanced wage costs demands consideration, while
there are no intermediate losses of oil. In so far as saving of time
is concerned there is little, if any, difference. Under the solvent
extraction method a period of eight to ten hours is required to deal
completely with a charge of 4,500 to 9,000 lb.

The fruits accruing from this latest manifestation of ingenuity in
connection with the reclamation of waste may be tersely emphasized.
The reclamation of the fat down to 1 per cent. being accepted, it may
also prove interesting to indicate how effectively the nitrogenous or
ammonia value of the product is preserved. The following represents
a typical analysis of a meat meal, which, it should be pointed out,
contains no bone whatever. The figures are:--

                                            Per cent.
  Tribasic phosphate of lime (superphosphate)  3·25
  Nitrogen                                    11·37
           ⤷
              = ammonia                       13·81

At the large cattle-slaughtering establishments of North and South
America, and at the sheep-killing stations in Australia and New
Zealand, the residues from which the edible fat has been recovered
by the open steam process are turned over to the solvent extraction
plants which have now been introduced to form an integral part of
the waste-recovery system, the value of the invention being fully
appreciated. At first the practice was to dry the residues from the
digesters before committing them to the extraction plant, but since
it was found superfluous to carry out such a preliminary, the residue
is turned over from the open steam digester where the edible fats are
obtained to the solvent extraction plant, the idea of course being to
secure the proportion of fat escaping recovery in the digester. In
this manner 99 per cent. of the fat contained in the crude waste is
obtained, but the proportion reclaimed from the practice of the solvent
extraction process is set aside for manufacturing purposes--conversion
into soap and other utilitarian commodities.

In the course of digesting the fresh fat with open steam a considerable
quantity of the “stick” liquor is precipitated, and its recovery for
size is fully justified. In the crude form this liquor is somewhat
weak, but by means of the Scott multiple-effect vacuum evaporating
plant it can be concentrated to any required degree of density. This
product is blended with the meat-meal from the solvent extraction plant
in a suitable vessel and is then dried to a powder, the ultimate meal
being high in ammonia.

In the case of the offal which is not suitable for the production of
an edible fat, recourse to the open steam digester is eliminated.
The refuse, along with the condemned meat, is consigned directly to
the extraction plant to be dealt with in one operation. A similar
practice is followed at the large pig-killing establishments. At
one installation in South America, where there is an impressive
illustration of British ingenuity and enterprise in regard to
waste recovery upon the Scott principle, the tallow produced is
immediately dispatched to the adjoining soap works--also a British
installation--where the glycerine is recovered and soap is produced. In
this instance therefore we have a powerful example of a self-contained
establishment completely equipped for the recovery of the whole of the
by-products incurred in the course of its normal operations and to the
utmost advantage.

The Germans have been extremely active in advancing the possibilities
of the solvent extraction process. Several large plants are in
operation in the Fatherland, of which we heard a good deal during
the war, but the character of the operations of which were grossly
misrepresented and exaggerated. Those behind the lines were reserved
exclusively for the disposal of fallen horses as well as the offal
and other wastes resulting from the feeding of the troops. The fat,
immediately upon its extraction, was treated for its glycerine, which
was dispatched to the explosive manufactories in Germany, while the
residues were converted into soap upon the spot. This practice was
followed because the glycerine was the staple in most urgent demand,
and the transport of which was far simpler than the movement of the
crude reclaimed fats. So far as soap was concerned the German soldiers,
even up to the front lines, had little or no room for complaint, for
the simple reason that it was prepared in their midst at the plants
which were installed within easy access of the centres of suitable raw
material supply.

British manufacturers, although somewhat conservative, are becoming
alive to the fact that only by the solvent extraction process can
the utmost wealth be won from fats derived from waste materials, and
many interesting expressions of enterprise in this direction may be
recorded. For instance, the manufacture of maize flour has made decided
strides in these islands during the past five years, doubtless owing
to the deficiency in connection with the wheaten product. However,
before this grain can be converted into the farinaceous form the germ
must be extracted, otherwise the keeping qualities of the flour are
seriously impaired. But, seeing that the germ represents approximately
20 per cent. of the whole grain, it will be seen that the industry
has to face a loss of one-fifth of its raw material in preparing the
flour--an imposing quantity. However, the germ is rich in oil, this
constituting approximately 20 per cent. of its bulk. The demand for
oil, particularly those of vegetable origin, is such that the maize
germ, instead of being turned over directly to cattle, is now being
exploited for its oil. By the solvent extraction process 99 per cent.
of this available 20 per cent. of oil is being extracted, the resultant
meal thus being virtually free of oil.

When the idea was first taken in hand it was maintained that the
withdrawal of the oil would imperil the feeding qualities of the meal
residue. This being conclusively disproved it was then argued that the
employment of benzine for the purpose would depreciate its cattle-food
value, the idea doubtless being entertained that it must be associated
with a certain benzine flavour from coming into contact with the
solvent. But here again practice did not coincide with precept, because
horses will devour the meal, freshly drawn from the extractor, with
avidity, and look round for more, proving very convincingly that
the benzine is completely exhausted from the extractor after having
fulfilled its designed function. Experience has shown that meal made
from the de-oiled maize germ is every whit as good and as nourishing
as, if not actually superior to, that which has not been subjected to
the oil-recovery process.

The solvent extraction process has proved to be of incalculable value
to the firms specializing in the dry-cleaning of clothes, fabrics,
and textiles in general. When the articles are likely to be charged
with appreciable quantities of dirt, such as carpets, they are first
subjected to a dusting treatment which removes the superfluous or free
dirt. Wearing apparel, except in a few instances, does not require
submission to this preliminary operation and so is passed into the
washing machine, which contains only benzine, together with a slight
proportion of ammoniacal liquor. The garments are passed through
several successive washings and rinsings in various machines, to be
submitted finally to the hydro-extractor, where practically the whole
of the benzine is recovered, the goods being delivered practically dry.
But to be positive upon this point they are hung for three or four
hours in a drying room. The articles are then examined for any stains,
such as blood and grease marks, which have resisted elimination in the
mechanical cleaning process. These are removed by hand--“hand-spotting”
as it is called, either with water, or with benzine and a little
soluble soap and a brush.

The dirt and other deleterious matter removed by the benzine in the
washing and rinsing machines is separated from the solvent, which
undergoes a simple treatment, bringing about its complete purification,
when it is returned to the service-tanks for further use. The process
is one of continuous distillation, the benzine, as previously
mentioned, being used over and over again, it only being necessary to
add certain quantities from time to time to remedy the unavoidable
losses incurred. The wastage of benzine averages about 15 per cent.
of the weight of the goods treated. Seeing that about 4,500 gallons
may pass hourly through the machines and the circuit, the loss is
relatively low. The quantity of dirt removed, despite the thoroughness
of the process, is comparatively trifling.

One interesting phase of the dry-cleaning process deserves mention,
if only to bring home the assiduity with which the reclamation of
grease from every conceivable source is now being prosecuted. Some
of the firms are devoting attention to the separation of the grease
removed from the clothes by the benzine. Seeing that the only likely
contribution of grease is that removed from the hands or other part
of the body coming into contact with the fabric, and that the grease
in question is only natural perspiration, it will be seen that, under
the most favourable conditions, such deposit must necessarily be
exceedingly trifling. That it should be deemed worthy of recovery seems
almost incredible. But it is being done, though the yield is low, and
it is proving profitable.

Probably no other waste is to be found in such a multiplicity of forms
and in such unexpected quarters as that capable of yielding grease, but
that it should pay to recover natural perspiration to assist in the
lubrication of a railway locomotive, or some other piece of machinery,
serves to emphasize the extremely fine limits to which fat-reclamation
science has been carried. It is admitted that, in the majority of
cases, the possible yields are so small as to render reclamation
absolutely impossible by any but the solvent extraction process, which
undoubtedly constitutes the highest testimony to the efficiency and
value of this wonderful British invention it is possible to advance.



CHAPTER VI

SAVING THE SCRAP FROM THE SEA


If the human race be extravagant in one, more than in any other
direction, it is undoubtedly in connection with the utilization of
the harvests of the sea. It is a failing as strongly asserted by the
primitive as by the cultured races. The aborigine, when there is a
big run, will trap as many fish as he can, not for consumption, but
apparently for the mere sake of catching his prey. He will select what
he requires and leave the remainder to rot. His civilized brother
pursues a broadly similar course, only in this event decomposition may
not be permitted to run its course without fulfilling a beneficial
purpose. The process can be harnessed, as it were, to a more or less
useful function.

Improvidence in the consumption of fish is particularly noticeable
among those nations which are able to point to an extensive salt-water
front, combined with a densely-settled population within a relatively
small area. It becomes accentuated when the country is possessed of an
intricate and excellent system of rapid inland transportation, allowing
the prompt movement of the catches from the points of landing to the
centres of consumption.

Such a country is Great Britain. With us fish is an exceedingly cheap
food and one which, normally, is readily procurable in adequate
quantities. The “long haul” by rail occasions no apprehensions,
inasmuch as the railway transport problem, so far as fish is concerned,
has been magnificently solved, it being possible to move consignments
four hundred, even six hundred miles within a few hours.

The sea’s contribution to the table is prolific. At the same time
it is variable. This factor in itself conduces towards pronounced
wastage. We seem to have failed lamentably in our efforts to cope with
the alternating spells of plenty and relative scarcity in a scientific
manner. We have not mastered the adjustment of seasonal gluts, arising
from the periodic massed movements of the fish, to shortages in order
to maintain a steady and uniform supply the whole year round. In view
of the immense strides which have been made in the art of preserving
perishable foodstuffs, this deficiency is certainly somewhat remarkable.

The extremely low prices at which the bulk of the food from the sea,
particularly of herring and sprat--occasionally mackerel--is available,
are primarily responsible for the extravagance which rules. This
state of affairs offers another interesting illustration of the fact
that extremely cheap living promotes waste. We need only to recall
the experience of the war to assure ourselves upon this point. Under
the system of price control, coupled with abnormally high rates, fish
purchases had to be conducted by the trade with extreme caution to
obviate financial losses, while, similarly, the consumer was compelled
to be more economic and less fastidious in his, or her, tastes. Under
such conditions far less of the single fish was wasted, while greater
ingenuity was exercised in the preparation of the less attractive
edible portions for the table.

Nevertheless, no matter how extreme the care or economy manifested, a
certain degree of wastage is unavoidable. For the most part the offal,
which in itself is appreciable in volume, is regarded as irreclaimable
and valueless except as a fertilizer. But this reasoning is fallacious.
Fish-waste is capable of furnishing raw material in several forms to
feed other industries. As yet this notable circumstance has not become
fully appreciated in these islands, the practicability of using such
refuse only having been established during the past few years.

Ability to turn fish offal to distinct profitable advantage not only
solves the problem in its economic aspect, but at the same time
indicates a promising outlook for glut catches and to which the
ordinary markets are often denied. In this country the conventional
disposal of surplus fish is decidedly deplorable for the reason that it
follows the line of least resistance. A glut or late catch is generally
sold at an absurd price in bulk to serve merely as manure.

If the fish could be turned directly into the soil such a use might
not be exposed to severe condemnation, although it is to be deprecated
because it represents a serious misuse of valuable food. But, as a
rule, this cannot be conducted with the essential promptitude for
obvious reasons. Then the farmer suffers a heavy loss. Vigilant gulls
and other birds having a well-defined penchant for fish diet raid the
land to enjoy a Gargantuan feast with the minimum of effort on their
part. The birds will even follow a train, or road wagons, bearing a
manurial consignment of their food, for miles from the point of landing
and then, after it has been dumped, will swoop down to gorge themselves
to the full. In many instances a farmer has been known to lose at least
50 per cent. of his purchase in this manner. He may essay alert and
effective measures to combat the birds’ attacks, but he will find it
an unequal contest. In one instance, which came before my notice, the
insatiable birds, catching sight of one or two open trucks laden with
a freshly-landed catch _en route_ to the land, attacked the wagons so
vigorously as to cause a very perceptible shrinkage in the load before
it reached its destination. Another farmer, who had been persuaded to
buy two or three truckloads of freshly-landed fish just because it was
cheap, subsequently expressed his doubt as to whether he had driven a
good bargain after all. The birds attacked the field over which the
loads were distributed in such overwhelming numbers as to prompt the
opinion that the field really contained more gulls than fish! So, after
all, it is extremely questionable whether the purchase of a bumper
catch for use as a fertilizer is really such a bargain as it may appear
from a cursory reflection.

In our large cities and towns the treatment of fish offal and surplus
supplies drawn from the markets, stores, and retail shops, as well as
the hotels, restaurants, and clubs, for industrial exploitation, should
present no difficulty whatever. It is an offal apart and a noisome one.
Its susceptibility to rapid decomposition and the emission of obnoxious
odours during the process demand its prompt removal. It cannot be
handled with other refuse owing to its offensiveness. Consequently the
system of special collection by vehicles of the closed tank type has
become the general practice. In this manner the disconcerting factor
pertaining to the utilization of organic waste--effective segregation
at the source--is assured.

Although, so far as we are concerned, the record of practical
achievements concerning the industrial utilization of fish-waste is
slender, owing to the few firms having been persuaded to embrace this
phase of trading, it is consoling to learn that we possess what may be
described as the leading authorities competent to deal with this issue
in all its varying aspects, and to be equipped with the best approved
facilities for conducting this work along the latest and most promising
lines. There is one firm in particular which has built up a unique
reputation in this direction, having been responsible for the design
and construction, as well as installation, of the largest fish-waste
reclamation plants in operation throughout the world. Some of these
equipments are most elaborate in character, and their very dimensions,
activity, scale of operations and prosperity, serve to demonstrate, in
the most convincing manner, the enormous wealth capable of being won
from fish scrap when the task is conducted along the lines advanced
by scientific development. The British firm in question, to whose
apparatus I have devoted extensive description in a previous chapter,
has been responsible for the complete installations forming part and
parcel of the huge canneries scattered along the western seaboard of
the North American continent.

It somewhat redeems our own short-sightedness and lack of enterprise to
know that we have a firm in our midst which has achieved many distinct
triumphs in the great issue of waste reclamation. It retains an
imposing staff of highly-trained chemists who have become specialists
in this privileged province, and they have devoted especial attention
to the exploitation of fish-scrap in the anticipation that this may
yet develop into a pretentious British industry. The presiding genius
of this organization has also associated himself intimately with
the problem from the severely scientific side, as well as becoming
thoroughly familiarized with the latest methods as practised in
Germany, Scandinavia, and other countries in order to reap full
advantage from the lessons which they are able to extend in point
of equipment and practice. In the opinion of this active-minded and
enterprising authority we have nothing to learn from the foreigner
either in point of processes, plant, or efficiency. We merely lack the
necessary imagination, initiative, and commercial acumen to be able to
reap the full financial and trading harvest to be gathered from the
exploitation of fish-scrap. While we are apathetic and backward in this
connection our Dominions are alert and astute. We need only to turn to
the extensive installation recently laid down in Australia--a model of
its type--and which was completed by the firm in question, to grasp
what can be accomplished in this peculiar field.

It was extremely fortunate for us, as a nation, to be possessed of
the knowledge and creative resources of a progressive firm. During
the war, when the economic conditions became so tense, the question
of the economic disposal of fish-waste to full commercial advantage
suddenly assumed an unexpected significance. Specific raw materials
were urgently demanded, and it was decided to search sedulously
for additional domestic sources of supply. In the conduct of these
investigations the potentialities of fish-scrap were forced to the
forefront. The enemy was exploiting this field to its absolute limits,
so why should we continue to ignore it? Cognizant of the precise
possibilities of this industry and the financial attractions which it
possessed the head of the firm of which I have written expressed his
readiness to extend all assistance in his power. His knowledge of the
craft, together with that of what the enemy could and could not do,
proved invaluable, and enabled us to place the recovery of the wealth
from this waste upon a solid foundation, and in such a manner as to
allow of its indefinite expansion in the future.

So far as turning fish-scrap to commercial account has been concerned
in these islands the axiom pertaining to the prophet and his own
country has not been wholly applicable. The Germans endeavoured to
establish an industry upon this raw material among us but signally
failed. One or two small plants were laid down along the broad lines
in vogue upon the other side of the North Sea, but they fell so far
short of expectations or requirements, and were so strikingly inferior
to British thought as to fall into disuse. They have long since been
broken up.

The Teuton, however, was not solicitous of the welfare of the British
nation in exploiting British fish-waste. He was merely prompted to
plant himself here because the necessary refuse--raw material from
his point of view--was obtainable in such huge quantities and at a
low figure. The output was shipped to Germany, where it commanded an
attractive price and was in keen demand. The spurned and rejected of
Britain became the highly prized of Germany.

Fish-waste falls into two broad classes, which are yet somewhat sharply
defined. These are white fish and oily offal respectively, the herring
being the best example of the latter category. Consequently, to conduct
fish-waste reclamation and exploitation for the by-products upon a
sufficiently comprehensive scale in these islands it would be necessary
to separate the offal into the two distinctive classifications at
the source. However, this would not be such a perplexing problem as
it might appear at first sight. Such segregation is imperative for
specific technical reasons, while one must also remember that the salt
content of the offal varies widely in the two classes of fish.

Scrap of this character can be induced to yield three commercial
products as a result of inexpensive treatment. They are respectively
meal for poultry and cattle, oil, and fertilizer. A fourth commodity
might be included, namely, fish-glue. Hitherto we have been content to
draw upon other countries for our supplies of this article, although
abundant raw material for its production has always been readily
obtainable. But manufacture was doubtless regarded as being extremely
speculative for the simple reason that the demand for this article
was severely limited. For some reason or other fish-glue, though
extensively used by the peoples of other nations, has never been
regarded with pronounced favour in British circles although it cannot
be excelled as an adhesive. Probably its peculiarly pungent odour has
been responsible for our indifferent appreciation of its virtues. One
or two small factories were equipped to conduct domestic manufacture,
but they were far from being pretentious in their scale of operation.

Fish-glue has attained its greatest vogue in Germany, Scandinavia,
Canada, and the United States of America--the last-named more
particularly. Yet there is no reason why it should not become equally
popular here. All that is required is to enlighten the community
concerning its properties, and here is a grand opportunity for
propaganda in support of a new industry. There is no secret associated
with its production as might possibly be imagined. The quality most
essential to secure its widespread appreciation is merely a display of
grim energy, push, and go. It is not a case of being called upon to
advance the claims of an entirely new product. It is known more or less
throughout the country from the circumstance that it is being exploited
in varying degree throughout the world. In these circumstances the
manufacture of British fish-glue from British fish-waste presents
enormous possibilities, capable of illimitable development.

There are signs that we are bestirring ourselves in this direction.
Heretofore fish-glue has always been made from the skins of white fish.
It has now been suggested that, in this country, the bones might be put
to similar account, the gummy content thereof being quite pronounced.
Expert opinion favours the contention that such might be carried out
to advantage, but there is one supreme difficulty--the adequate supply
of the essential bones. They could be drawn from the filleting trade,
but the extent of this supply is somewhat problematical. Fish-bones as
such have not yet attained the high estate of recognition as a distinct
article of commerce. Nevertheless a possible way out of this difficulty
has been suggested. It should be quite practicable, when employing the
oil extraction process to which I refer later, to sift out the larger
bones before submitting the dry residue to the grinding process. In
this way it would be possible to secure a ready supply of the necessary
raw material for the production of the glue.

It has also been suggested in certain home circles that herring
offal might be treated in such a way as to yield fish-glue, but this
represents a venture upon untrodden ground. From such a statement it
must not be inferred that this residue could not be induced to yield
the substance desired, but so far as is known the offal has never
been devoted to this purpose. Nevertheless, the suggestion is to be
applauded. It is indicative of the new spirit attending the disposal of
fish offal and goes to prove that British commercial pioneering is far
from being numbered among the lost arts. The mere launch of the inquiry
has sufficed to spur the chemist to investigate the problem, and any
success achieved in the laboratory in this direction will represent
an enormous progressive stride owing to the magnitude of our herring
fishery.

At the moment it is the recovery of the oil, meal, and fertilizer
which constitutes the primary objectives of the industry. Of the three
possible by-products the meal is doubtless the most remunerative.
To a certain degree the contemporary concentration of effort upon
the conversion of the offal into meal is due to the fact that this
constituted the essence of German endeavour in these islands before
the war. This meal was in keen demand in Germany, and the bulk thereof
was dispatched to that country and Japan. The interruption of this
supply to the former, as a result of the outbreak of hostilities, hit
the enemy somewhat severely. Not only was he thus deprived of the
crude meal prepared in Britain, but he was also denied the opportunity
to turn the waste accruing from the consumption in the Fatherland of
the heavy imports of British herring which were also summarily cut
off. Doubtless Germany cherishes hopes that her industrious sons, who
specialized in this distinctive craft, will be permitted to return to
the scene of their former labours and to exploit British fish-scrap
once again to the advantage of the German nation upon the conclusion of
peace. May the wish become no more than father to the thought. We have
not failed to profit from the many lessons taught by the war: we have
been forced to recognize the many virtues of fish-meal and have made,
and still are making, spirited efforts to repair the losses in this
line of trading which, from our indifference and lack of imagination,
we lost.

To galvanize British effort the fish-meal and fish-manure (guano)
manufacturers have joined hands. Propaganda has been waged vigorously
by the association, while agricultural societies and colleges have
willingly co-operated to spread the gospel of enlightenment. Farmers
have been canvassed sedulously, and the value of these by-products
for feeding stock and soil have been brought convincingly before
them. As a poultry food fish-meal is declared to be unsurpassable,
and this circumstance has been driven well home. The result of this
onslaught has been to force the farmer, an admittedly difficult
individual to convince, into the admission that these products are
possessed of far-reaching potentialities, the result being that,
to-day, an increasing demand for fish-meal and guano prevails, which
has exercised the obvious effect of stimulating the exploitation of
fish-scrap to a very pronounced degree.

During the war circumstances militated against the fulfilment of any
impressive programme of development along modern lines. Plant and
machinery could not be procured owing to the prior claims advanced by
other industries. Consequently the problem became resolved rather into
the modernization and adaptation of existing plants, many of which
suffered from being woefully inefficient. But even in this direction
much was achieved which cannot fail to be of distinct value, since it
has served to illustrate what can be done in this field to financial
profit. Now that trade is returning to the normal we may safely
anticipate a striking advance along the whole industrial line in the
installation of comprehensive plants coinciding with the very latest
expressions of scientific thought, and which will not fail to conduce
to the winning of impressively additional wealth from this hitherto
sadly-neglected material.

So far as the white fish is concerned the conversion of the offal
into meal represents a straightforward operation. It is merely dried
under vacuum along the lines already described, a steam-jacketed
drier or concentrator being used for the purpose. If the waste be
stale or heavily impregnated with salt it cannot be used as food, the
product in this instance being bagged for sale as a fertilizer. But
the manufacturer, owing to the enhanced profit to be derived from the
sale of the product in the feeding-meal form naturally strives to
secure this article, and so, if designed for this use, the meal, after
issuance from the drier, is passed through a disintegrator and is then
graded through a sifting reel.

It is the exploitation of the herring and the sprat, both in the form
of offal, glut catches, and condemned consignments, which presents the
most attractive future in these islands. When it is remembered that
the annual yield of the sea to the fishermen of Britain represents
a round 4,000,000,000 herrings, it will be conceded that here must
be a Klondyke of waste. Unfortunately, however, the issue is not so
straightforward as it would seem to be. An enormous quantity of the
catches are set aside for salting and curing to allow of export to
foreign markets. In the past Russia and Germany were our largest
customers for this foodstuff, their combined purchases running to
a round 800,000,000 lb. and exceeding £4,000,000--$20,000,000--in
value. When the fish is salted the treatment of the offal presents a
rather teasing problem. Its excessive salt content reacts against its
conversion into poultry-meal except in very small quantities which are
almost too insignificant to demand attention. When a fish-meal carries
salt in excess of 5 per cent. it can be used as a constituent of
blended or compounded foods, and then only sparingly. Consequently the
possible consumption in this field can only be relatively trifling.

By salting the herring the saline content is increased to 20 or even 25
per cent., and the removal of the added salt offers a supreme obstacle.
Fortunately it crops up only at certain seasons, but, at these periods,
the quantities of offal and scrap to be treated assume imposing
dimensions. As may be imagined, from what has been related, salt is
the bugbear to the meal manufacturer and he is hard put to it to bring
the figure down to one coinciding with trading requirements. What he
desires is a simple, inexpensive process whereby the excessive salt may
be eliminated without impairing the other virtues of the material in
any way. Needless to say the discovery of such a preliminary treatment,
meeting with his desires, will be received with unfeigned delight.

The suggestion has been advanced that the extraneous, or added,
salt might be removed by subjecting the offal to a washing process.
Undoubtedly, in this way, the desired end could be consummated to a
certain degree, but, at the same time, there is the danger that the
water would not only carry away the salt but would bear with it an
appreciable proportion of the valuable nitrogenous matter which it is
imperative should be retained. Unfortunately the salt is not completely
free; it permeates the fish through and through and is held by the
tissues. In view of the difficulty obtaining the manufacturer, as
a rule, converts the heavily salted offal into fertilizer, but the
enhanced salt content of the manure is regarded with certain misgivings
even by the farmer.

This problem assumed its maximum intensity during the war. Huge
quantities of barrelled herrings, destined for export to the countries
upon the other side of the North Sea, were held up by the authorities,
who feared that they might ultimately find their way into enemy
countries. As there was no other outlet for this produce, the salted
herrings not being regarded with favour here, these prohibited exports
were ultimately thrown upon the hands of the meal manufacturers. Such
an instance is decidedly abnormal, but as already mentioned the issue
arises to a lesser degree under conditions of ordinary trading, and,
consequently, demands a certain amount of attention.

The engineering firm specializing in plants for the exploitation of
fish-scrap, to which I have alluded, is attacking this problem in its
extensive well-equipped laboratories. The chemist favours the theory
that the extraneous salt is capable of ready removal. He also realizes
that the perfection of a simple and cheap process to this end will
probably accomplish a further beneficial purpose. Traces of blood
are occasionally encountered in the offal, and their presence tends
to discolour the resultant meal. These might possibly be eliminated
contemporaneously with the removal of the added salt.

While I have dealt somewhat at length with the artificial salt problem,
as it were, it must not be imagined that it constitutes a constant or
inseparable feature of the fish-waste by-product recovery industry:
far from it. Herring offal, while extremely varied, falls into certain
distinctive classes. There is the scrap, or waste, as well as condemned
consignments and surplus incidental to the fresh fish trade, which
during the recurring periods undoubtedly touches a very high figure.
Then there is the kippering and curer offal, the yield of which is much
more formidable and easily recoverable from accumulations at central
plants where such work is carried out upon a large scale. The kippering
refuse, of course, represents that incurred in the process of kippering
the herring and, comprising for the most part the gut of the fish,
presents a material having little body or substance.

This waste is difficult to treat except along the most modern lines.
For this reason, in pre-war days it was exploited only to a limited
degree. Yet its accumulation was enormous. At some plants the piles of
such refuse, which were to be seen, contained several hundred tons. It
failed to arouse earnest attention until the famine in oil burst upon
us during hostilities. Then these dumps created interest because it was
realized that such residue is rich in oil, enormous quantities of which
were lying dormant. Forthwith plants were erected and equipped with the
very latest types of machinery, which augurs well for the continuation
of this manifestation of industrial enterprise in the future, owing to
the great possibilities attending such reclamation.

Curer offal presents the heads and other waste portions as well as a
material quantity of broken fish. This refuse has far more body, and
so can be more readily treated to allow the valuable by-products to be
recovered.

While we undoubtedly lagged behind our competitors in turning
fish-scrap to commercial account it must not be imagined that we
completely ignored this potential source of wealth. Nevertheless, for
the most part, we were content to conduct operations along obsolete,
inefficient lines, obtaining a return far below what might have
been recorded. Had these plants been of modern design and equipment
fish-waste reclamation would have advanced by leaps and bounds during
the war period. As new machinery could not be obtained the main
task was to adapt the existing plant to satisfy the demands of the
authorities, which proved a task of distinct magnitude in itself,
because the majority of the installations in operation possessed no
striking feature other than that of being extremely wasteful from every
point of view, offering, in fact, the most convincing illustrations of
How _not_ to do it!

In some works the practice was to cook the offal in steam-jacketed
cookers. Now, when kippering offal, for instance, is being treated,
the material, owing to lack of body, tends to coagulate at a certain
stage in the process, a large volume of oil being liberated. This oil
was skimmed and the residue, resembling a stiff mud, was removed to
be wrapped in cloths for submission to extreme pressure in hydraulic
presses. This action served to express a certain proportion of the oil
remaining in the sludge. The compressed cakes were then transferred to
a steam-jacketed drier to be reduced to meal.

This process, which has not yet been completely superseded, suffers
from being involved and prolonged, although these do not constitute
the most adverse features. The greatest objections to it are the
retention of an appreciable quantity of oil in the residue, even after
subjection to pressure, which accordingly becomes associated with
the meal. The last-named being sold for fertilizing purposes, the
presence of the oil is objectionable, while the product also suffers
from being low in ammonia. Furthermore, while the sludge is being
pressed a pronounced volume of watery liquid is driven out to be lost
down the drains. Seeing that this liquid carries valuable manurial
constituents its loss is greatly to be deplored, and materially lowers
the fertilizing--and financial--value of the meal.

A variation of the foregoing process is made in other works, but it
only tends towards greater inefficiency and heavier losses. In this
case only the oil resulting from treatment of the material in the
hydraulic press is recovered! A third system involves the passage of
the pressed cakes through a continuous direct fire-heated drier. This
method is particularly objectionable, not only from the offensive
odours which are thrown off, but because the ammonia content of the
waste undergoes serious depreciation, owing to the high temperature
employed. In certain instances the herring offal is even charged into
the apparatus without any attempt having been made to separate the oil!
Such a system, as will readily be recognized, has nothing whatever to
recommend it.

It is the observance of such indifferent and unscientific methods
as the foregoing which has been responsible for the commercial
possibilities of fish-scrap to be belittled. The oil is undoubtedly
ignored intentionally because fish oils are generally held to be
worthy of inclusion only among the lowest grades of industrial oils.
Nevertheless, were a chemist to be attached to such wasteful plants
much needed reforms could be promptly introduced, although it is highly
probable that the plants would be scrapped instantly at his instigation
because of their lamentable inefficiency.

But we need labour no longer in ignorance. Modern science, as
represented by chemistry and engineering, is able to offer an equipment
capable of extracting the whole of the oil content down to 1 per cent.
In other words, 99 per cent. of the oil contained in the raw offal
and scrap can be recovered both cheaply and easily. The loss of such
a minute fraction as 1 per cent. undoubtedly represents a remarkable
chemico-mechanical achievement.

The new process completely coincides with the dictates of contemporary
science. The fundamental features are cooking the refuse under vacuum
and the ultimate extraction of the oil by the aid of a suitable solvent
such as benzine or other equally volatile spirit, or the benzine
extraction system may be used from the very beginning, in a single
and complete process. I have described this highly ingenious system
in a previous chapter together with the system of operation followed.
Obviously while the highest efficiency can only be derived from the
installation of the complete plant, the processes being interrelated,
the designer found it possible to modernize some of the old-fashioned
and wasteful equipments to a very striking degree by the introduction
of certain features to meet the exigencies of the moment.

A very convincing illustration of what can be achieved in this
connection may be related. A firm specializing in the exploitation
of herring offal desired to extend its plant, but was baulked in its
intentions owing to the various restrictions which were in force.
Accordingly it was compelled to consider the situation of how to
derive more from the existing facilities without adding to them, at
least only to an insignificant degree. At first sight this may seem
to have presented a somewhat intricate, if not actually impossible,
undertaking. Yet it was effected.

The modified arrangement introduced is decidedly interesting. The
offal is cooked in the steam-jacketed cooker, as much as possible
of the oil being skimmed from the mixture at the critical stage of
coagulation. The sediment, or mud-like residue, is then transferred
to an extractor where the remaining oil is recovered. This converts
the residue into a still stiffer substance to be finished off in the
ordinary steam-jacketed drier, instead of being completely dried in the
extractor as originally designed.

This solution has proved to be exceedingly simple and eminently
efficient. Although considerable handling is involved the extracting
capacity of the plant has been nearly doubled. The advantages to be
recorded are:--

 (1) Ability to handle very much larger charges of waste when not
 reducing the material to a dry meal;

 (2) Reduction of the raw material to the extent of the oil removed
 from the cookers;

 (3) Reduction of the time required for the oil extraction by
 approximately 50 per cent.

Consequently, although the adapted, or modified, process entails the
employment of extra labour, a result entirely due in this instance to
the disposition of the plant in the works, the firm in question is able
to obtain the value of the oil which would otherwise be lost, and which
more than offsets the cost of the extra labour involved.

As a result of this development a review of the whole problem
associated with the recovery of the by-products from fish-scrap was
made. Cooking plant is not so expensive as extraction equipment. The
question arose as to whether, or not, it would be possible, by the
introduction of suitable automatic handling and other labour-saving
devices, to obtain highly satisfactory results and efficiency from a
combined plant. If this could be done then it would be comparatively
easy and inexpensive to bring many of the existing recovery plants up
to date to the advantage of the firms concerned. But the factor of
capital outlay demands careful consideration, more especially in all
matters pertaining to the utilization of waste products, because costs
must be forced down to the irreducible minimum to show the necessary
return to render them attractive. The result of close investigation
of the issue led to the ultimate conclusion that the cost involved
in connection with the cookers, extraction plant, and driers, in all
probability, would be heavier than that incidental to the laying down
of a straightforward extraction plant, pure and simple, to deal with
the raw material and to turn it out as a dry product in one operation.
One admitted advantage accrues from subjecting the material to
preliminary cooking in steam-jacketed cookers. The oil thus obtained is
somewhat better in quality than that derived by recourse to the solvent.

The modified or combined process above described enables one distinct
end to be achieved. The objectionable and wasteful, as well as
expensive pressing plant can be dispensed with. It also enables the
ammonia content of the finished meal to be improved very noticeably,
as the following analyses of typical meals produced by the respective
processes prove somewhat conclusively.

                      PHOSPHATES.       AMMONIA.
                      Per cent.         Per cent.
  Pressing process       6·5               7·5
  Combined process       9·5              10·5

From the foregoing it will be seen that the enhanced yield of
phosphates and ammonia fully justifies the additional expenditure
incurred in regard to the plant and labour in connection with the
extraction process, quite apart from the main duty of the plant. This
is to extract all the oil, multiplying the usual yield many times over.
Moreover, the quality of the oil-free meal obviously is superior.

With herring offal the extraction process by benzine ensures nothing
being removed except the moisture and the oil. None of the liquor with
its valuable ammonia is lost. Consequently the whole of the nitrogenous
matter is combined with the resultant fertilizing meal.

To indicate the advantage of the benzine extraction process over the
old-fashioned method of cooking, pressing, and subsequently drying the
pressed cakes the accompanying analyses may prove informative. They
refer to herring-mixed meal produced from kippering offal and damaged
herring respectively.

BENZINE EXTRACTION PROCESS.

                             Per cent.
  Ammonia                      11·79
  Tribasic phosphate of lime    9·66
  Oil                           1·10

OLD PROCESS.

                              Per cent.
  Ammonia                        7·5
  Tribasic phosphate of lime     6·5
  Oil                           15·5

Both essential fertilizing constituents are lower by the second than
by the first process. This is not surprising in view of the fact that
the subjection of the sludge to pressure drives off the watery liquor
which is allowed to escape into the drains, notwithstanding that it
carries a pronounced proportion of the ammonia and phosphate. Then it
will be seen that the benzine process yields a manure carrying a less
proportion of the oil which the farmer regards with misgiving, because
the oil has been recovered for sale as such. In other words it will be
seen that, under the old process, 14.4 per cent. of oil is allowed to
pass to the land where it is not required, instead of to industry where
it is in keen request. At the prices which prevailed during the war
this represented a wastage of £7--$35--per ton of fertilizer.

Under the extraction or solvent process the meal is turned out in
a perfectly dry condition, either for use as a poultry food or
fertilizer, the recovery of the oil and drying being completed in the
one operation. The method is not only the acme of simplicity but it
assures the maximum yield of oil, only 1 per cent. being lost. It is
also rapid, it being possible to treat a charge of 8 tons of offal in
10 to 12 hours in one unit.

White fish and general offal do not contain sufficient oil to warrant
the expense of solvent extraction. If it should be desired to secure 99
per cent. of the slight proportion the offal carries then submission to
the benzine process is imperative, for the simple reason that it cannot
possibly be recovered in any other way. The modern system of drying
such offal is by steam heat under vacuum or reduced pressure.

This process, to which I have also devoted adequate attention
previously, not only enables a product of high quality to be obtained,
enabling it to command an enhanced price in the market, but it also
conduces towards the retention of the nitrogenous contents of the meal.
From the fertilizing point of view this is the main end to be achieved.
Colour of the meal is another factor which demands recognition. It
plays a far more prominent part in the commercial value of the product
than might possibly be conceived. The American drying system, operating
along direct fire-heated lines, while efficient so far as it goes,
namely, the elimination of the moisture, yields a darker coloured meal,
owing to the high temperature which has to be used, while, of course,
the nitrogen content is lowered by such practice.

The vacuum system has also proved highly efficient for the production
of cod-liver oil. The temperature of rendering being low gives an oil
of superior colour and odour, two factors of vital importance when
the oil is being extracted for medicinal purposes. This is a somewhat
delicate product to manufacture, especially when the livers are in a
state of partial decomposition, because in this instance colour and
sweet taste are particularly vital and difficult to assure.

I have referred to the circumstance that fish oils commercially rule
low in the scale of industrial oils. But even fish oils possess one
feature common to the highest grades of oils. They carry a certain
proportion of glycerine. During the war the oil extracted from
fish-scrap and offal was subjected to further treatment to swell our
domestic supplies of this indispensable commodity. Even under normal
conditions the reclamation of oil from fish waste to secure this
glycerine offers further inducement to this phase of industry, and is
also capable of considerable development.

Fish oils are also destined to play a more prominent part upon the
table than has been the case heretofore. Their inherent fluidity
and refusal to solidify, except at low temperatures, have hitherto
reacted against their use in this direction. But the increasing demand
for margarine as a substitute for butter, and the discovery of the
hydrogenating process for eliminating the two outstanding defects, have
invested the future for fish oils with additional significance, more
especially as by the hardening process, as it is called, the pungent
taste and aroma so distinctively of the sea and its inhabitants are
removed. By virtue of this discovery fish oils are entering more and
more extensively into the manufacture of margarine. The circumstance
that they yield a product so closely allied to the genuine article
from the dairy as to be difficult of detection, except by elaborate
investigation and specialized methods, has served to accentuate this
tendency.

We must derive far-reaching benefits from the utilization of our
fish waste of every description--not only the offal arising from the
preparation of the foodstuff for the table either in a fresh, kippered,
cured, or canned condition, but the inedible contributions from the
trawls. Those members of the sea’s vast and varied population, such
as the whale, which are trapped for certain highly-prized portions of
their bodies, must be fully exploited. For decades the whale fishery
has been conducted along the most wickedly wasteful lines for which we
are paying to-day. The Scandinavian whalers have been among the worst
offenders in this respect, but they are now being compelled to turn
from the folly of their ways and are endeavouring to utilize the whole
of the carcases of their prizes.

So far as the average member of the community in these islands is
concerned it is a moot point whether he, or she, has any tangible
idea of the magnitude of the British sea-fishing industry. From the
abundance and cheapness of the food a vague notion obtains that it
must certainly be somewhat impressive. To obtain a graphic idea of its
enormous proportions we must venture beyond the limits of domestic
consumption and see how we help to feed the foreigner. Under normal
conditions we ship approximately 1,250,000,000 lb. of fish every year,
representing in value a round £7,750,000--$38,750,000. Of this huge
total the humble herring represents nearly 1,120,000,000 lb., valued
at approximately £6,000,000--$30,000,000. Of the total herring catch
about one thousand million--1,000,000,000--lb. are subjected to curing
or salting for the foreign markets, the value of those exports being
£5,350,000--$26,750,000--so that the herring may truly be said to form
the backbone of the British sea-fisheries. In these circumstances, and
bearing in mind the huge quantities handled, the item of waste must
necessarily loom heavy. It cannot be avoided. Therefore it behoves
us to turn our harvest from the sea to the utmost advantage and to
eliminate the item “loss” from our operations.

As the by-products from fish-waste become appreciated we may even
proceed to the lengths pursued along the northern Atlantic seaboard of
the United States. There the harvest of the menhaden, a fish totally
unfit for human consumption, is carried out expressly for the oil
obtainable therefrom. It has become a flourishing trade--one which is
steadily expanding--special vessels being engaged in the fishery. While
it is questionable if much fish of a comparative character and totally
unsuited to the table is to be caught in the waters around our coasts,
Farther Britain can point to a different state of things. Our Dominions
should find it profitable to emulate the American example and exploit
adjacent waters essentially for inedible fish to extract the oil and
to convert the residue either into fertilizer or poultry food. There is
a lucrative and developing market for all three commodities.

But the problem of to-day, in so far as it particularly affects Great
Britain, is to solve the issue incidental to the glut catches, so as
to prevent the wasteful distribution of the raw fish over the land as
the easiest way out of a perplexing dilemma. If we can divert such
unwanted hauls from the sea to reclamation factories, confident in the
knowledge that there they will be worked up to their utmost in the
interests of commerce, we shall be able to record an industrial and
economic achievement of incalculable consequence to ourselves. To dump
newly-caught fish upon the land merely because it cannot be absorbed
by the community as a foodstuff constitutes one of the most deplorably
wasteful, if not actually criminally extravagant, charges ever levelled
against contemporary civilization.



CHAPTER VII

WINNING WEALTH FROM SLAUGHTER-HOUSE OFFAL, CONDEMNED MEAT BONES, AND
BLOOD


Undoubtedly one of the wonders of civilization is the ability to
preserve and transport such a readily perishable foodstuff as meat in a
chilled and frozen condition for an indefinite period of time. By this
means cattle roaming the extensive ranches of North and South America,
Australia and New Zealand, are rendered available in a fresh form for
presentation upon the tables of Britain to supplement the severely
limited domestic supplies. During recent years the growth of this
traffic has been remarkable, and it will not be long before we touch
the million-tons-a-year mark for imported beef, mutton, pork, exclusive
of ham and bacon.

Yet the development of this trade has reacted directly against our
own interests. The dispatch of the carcases to these islands in the
dressed condition has deprived, and still is depriving us, of much
valuable raw material to which we should have access were we to raise
sufficient meat to satisfy our own needs. This is the exploitation of
the offal or inedible portions of the beast, the products obtained
from which are not only of marked intrinsic value, but enter into so
many other and varied industries. From this statement it must not be
imagined that we are entirely prevented from establishing a meat-waste
industry, since our domestic killing trade is of distinct significance
and is supplemented to a certain degree by the “home-killed” business.
The latter, as is well known, represents the shipment of cattle to this
country in the live condition to be slaughtered upon landing.

In these circumstances it would be perfectly feasible for us to
establish the meat residue exploitation industry upon a comprehensive
scale but for the fact that existing conditions are decisively
adverse, although we could scarcely aspire to attain the magnitude and
operations of the huge meat-packing plants of Chicago. It is extremely
doubtful if we really appreciate the possibilities of this business,
and, because of our ignorance, we, as a nation, are the losers. We have
permitted the local or territorial slaughter of cattle to be carried to
an extreme length. The municipal abattoir constitutes the feature of
the slaughtering trade of these islands, and although this practice was
introduced to overcome the shortcomings of the private slaughter-house,
which were many, and to ensure killing and dressing animals under
the most hygienic and scientific conditions, yet it is a matter for
serious consideration as to whether the municipal practice should not
be superseded by a centralized system, acting under State or private
control, the latter for preference, so as to give full rein to the
display of initiative.

There is no logical reason why the slaughter of domestic cattle
should not be conducted at a central point. Such a plant conducted
along the lines practised at Chicago would be of far-reaching benefit
to the community. Supervision would be more effective, simpler and
less expensive, inasmuch as it would be possible to dispense with
the multiplicity of officials now obtaining--another form of waste.
It would also enable the residues from the trade to be turned to
utilitarian advantage along the most economic and profitable lines,
owing to their very bulk. A visit to the Chicago stockyards brings
home very forcibly the magnitude of this trade and the wealth to be
won from the residues which accrue. It has been declared, and with
considerable truth, that at the American stockyards the development
of the by-products is every whit as extensive and as important as the
preparation of the ostensible staple product. It is actually more
profitable, and brings in as great if not greater revenue.

The arguments which would be levelled against the establishment of a
central meat-packing plant in this country are many and obvious. In
the first place full voice would be given to the apparent futility of
sending a live animal from 20 to 600 or 700 miles merely to be killed,
and to return the dressed carcase to be sold. Superficially it does
appear to be a senseless employment of transport and to incur needless
expense. Yet such a practice is followed upon the North American
continent. Animals are shipped alive over hundreds of miles to be
killed and returned to the point where they were bought, in the form
of dressed meat ready for consumption. But the argument is fatuous.
Centralized slaughtering facilities secure equitable distribution,
as well as prompt movement, since the trade is sufficiently heavy
to demand the inauguration of a special handling and transportation
system. Then again such a practice allows bulk shipment combined with
long haulage, two essential conditions to economic transportation.
If the method were practised in these islands, not only would it be
possible to take full advantage of the latest manifestations of science
in so far as it affected the industry, but it would enable the residues
forthcoming in enormous quantities to be treated upon the spot in the
reclamation plant forming an integral part of the stockyard equipment.
The revenue derived from the disposal of the by-products rendered
available in a commercial form would not only more than offset the
charges incurred concerning transportation, but would tend towards the
primary product--the meat--being sold at a lower figure to the public.

Under the present system of local killing much of the offal escapes
reclamatory treatment for the simple reason that the quantity
forthcoming is so limited as not to be deemed worthy of exploitation,
or else is subjected to obsolete or inefficient by-product recovery
methods. In many instances it is sold to a contractor who endeavours
to conduct bulk treatment upon a reduced scale, paying a relatively
low price for the refuse and one quite disproportionate to its true
value. In some instances the contractor does not attempt to carry out
by-product recovery, but merely acts as a middleman, dispatching the
various residues to the quarters where he knows they will be taken in
hand to be worked up.

During the past few years the science of winning wealth from
slaughter-house offal of every description has made enormous strides,
effort having been concentrated upon the recovery of the very utmost
yield of by-products for the simple reason that the demand therefor
is exceedingly keen, while prices are necessarily attractive.
This applies particularly to the fats, the value of which ranges
up to as much as £50 per ton, according to grade, although other
commodities simultaneously secured, such as meal for cattle-feeding
and fertilizers, are able to command equally impressive prices. A
graphic idea of the degree to which this science has been advanced
is obvious from the dimensions, comprehensiveness and modernity of
the by-product installations which have been laid down as adjuncts to
the mammoth cattle-killing plants in various parts of the world, the
majority of which, as I have pointed out in a previous chapter, are of
British origin, design and construction, and many of which have been,
and still are being, supplied from this country. Surely it is somewhat
anomalous that other countries should come to us for the latest
expressions of ingenuity and invention in this province when we are
unable to point to a single pretentious plant in this country! At the
same time it is distinctly gratifying to learn that if Britain cannot
display sufficient imagination or commercial acumen to use plants of
this character, she certainly can build them, and is not only able to
keep well astride of the times, but is fertile in thought concerning a
highly specialized ramification of industry.

As a matter of fact it may come somewhat of a surprise to learn that
British thought is far in advance of American practise, as manifested
by the stockyards at Chicago in regard to the utilization of appliances
and process for the treatment of meat residues. The interests at the
mammoth plant were approached with the latest British development in
this line--the solvent extraction process described in a previous
chapter--it being recognized that its introduction to the American
stockyards would apply the seal of highest approval to the invention
and represent a great achievement for the British interests which had
evolved and perfected it. It possessed every virtue likely to make
appeal, more particularly the means of enabling the American packers
to add to their already huge profits. The process was investigated,
and its superiority over the methods in vogue was frankly conceded.
But the Chicago industry firmly declined to embrace the invention, not
from feelings of hostility, but because the interests concerned had
developed their own plant along lines, and to a degree which would not
readily permit a revolution. To have introduced the new idea would
have been to disorganize the whole business of by-product reclamation
and would have demanded the revision of methods, knowledge, practice,
and routine. Questions of cost did not enter into the issue at all. The
packers merely declined to disturb the system they had standardized and
had carried to such a level of perfection.

But the packers were not wholly opposed to progress. Although not
willing to introduce the system into their plants, they were quite
ready to turn over their wastes, after they had extracted as much as
they could of material value therefrom under their system, to the
British interests. The inventors accepted the proposal, and to-day one
may witness the strange and anomalous spectacle of British interests
taking over the residues from residues from the packing plants for
further treatment, and conducting the unusual method of trading to
their financial profit. It was confidence in the superiority of the new
idea which brought such signal success. Yet this exploitation of wastes
from wastes is not peculiar to Chicago. It is even being practised to a
limited degree in these islands, which suffices to prove that certain
quarters are fully cognizant of the wealth awaiting to be won from
waste, and that it pays to conduct the process to the recovery of the
uttermost retrievable ounce even from such material.

Certain of our municipalities, fully alive to the value of the waste
incidental to the operations of their abattoirs, are sparing no effort
to utilize such material to the full. However, in many instances,
their enterprise is thwarted by the circumstance that the butchers
making avail of the Corporation facilities extended, possess certain
vested interests which must be honoured. Accordingly it is not possible
to conduct reclamation to such limits as would be attainable were
methods comparable with those prevailing at the Chicago stockyards
in operation. To be able to extract the utmost from the refuse it is
imperative that the authorities should be given unrestricted control
of the animal, preferably absolute ownership. This is the reason
why the big private packing plants are able to achieve such eminent
success. They purchase the live animals, and consequently are free to
exploit them in accordance with the principles they have elaborated.
Nevertheless, despite the difficulties obtaining, much good work
is being accomplished in British circles concerning abattoir waste
exploitation.

The case of Edinburgh may be cited as an illustration. I purposely
select the Scottish city for the reason that--so far as municipalities
are concerned--it is possessed of one of the most up-to-date
installations in the country, is enterprising, and serves to bring
home how vested interests can mar a record of possible achievement by
restrictive action. The blood is sold to a contractor, who, however,
is compelled to sell back to the meat trade such quantities of this
article as may be required. A proportion of the offal is also sold by
the meat trade.

Diseased meat, condemned as unfit for human consumption, is treated by
the authorities in the Scott plant which they have acquired. The waste
is thoroughly sterilized by steam, the residuals, comprising non-edible
tallow, meat fibre and bones being sold. The plant cost £600--$3,000.
The working costs may be set down at approximately £200--$1,000--per
annum, while the income from the sale of the uncertain quantities of
meat of which disposal is made averages about £430--$2,150--per year.
The hoofs and spurs of the feet of cattle, the parings of ox-feet, a
small proportion of waste offal, and the manure originating in the
slaughter-house, are sold by the Corporation. The sum derived from
these sources during the 1917-18 financial year amounted to £533
5s.--$2,666.25--while the revenue from the sale of blood was £437
11s.--$2,187.75. All things considered it must be conceded that the
by-products resulting from the operation of the slaughter-house by
the Corporation of the Scottish city are fully utilized, although the
defects arising from divided responsibility for the development and
disposal of the wastes are obvious.

Divided interests exert another reactive influence. The public
authorities are debarred from making full avail of the latest
improvement in the art and craft of waste recovery. For instance,
although the leading abattoirs of these islands have acquired
reasonably up-to-date plants, they are all operated upon the open steam
principle, with and without vacuum. The method, while satisfactory so
far as it goes, does not offer the means of securing the utmost from
the available material. But the authorities do not feel justified
in going to the expense of acquiring the latest appliances for the
prosecution of the work of reclamation, an attitude which is perfectly
explicable in the circumstances.

Of course, the community suffers, though imperceptibly. The plants in
question allow a certain proportion of waste to be lost which in the
course of the year represents an imposing figure. Furthermore, the
whole, or the greater part, of the “stick liquor” or gelatinous liquid
thrown off during the fat reclamation process is lost, being allowed
to escape down the drains. The abandonment of the stick liquor is
regrettable because it constitutes a waste capable of being treated
with profit, as I explain later. But it is doubtful whether the average
municipal plant, even if it had absolutely unfettered control of all
the waste products arising from the slaughter of cattle for food, would
be in the position to treat the stick liquor to commercial advantage.
An evaporative plant would have to be incorporated to concentrate
the gelatinous substance to the desired density, and only in a few
instances would the quantity of material treated be adequate to render
the utilization of the stick liquor profitable. But this constitutes an
additional argument for centralized meat packing and offal exploitation
in these islands.

Accordingly effort is exclusively confined to the recovery of the
grease. I have described the outstanding features of the vacuum system
in a previous chapter, to which I would refer the reader desiring
enlightenment in connection therewith. The grease is drawn off by
a special skimming device into a fat tank to be clarified. Then it
is run into barrels or other suitable receptacles for transport. It
is scarcely necessary to point out that the grease and tallow thus
obtained from condemned meat and other offal, although thoroughly
sterilized in the rendering process, are graded only as fit for the
manufacture of soap and other articles of utility, as distinct from
products of edible importance.

The term “offal” in its application to meat residues is somewhat
ambiguous. It not only comprises material coinciding with the general
interpretation of the term, but certain portions of the animal which
are really suited to the preparation of foodstuffs for the table.
Consequently all grease recovered from the digester is not necessarily
adapted to manufacturing purposes only. In these circumstances it is
necessary to grade the fat before treatment, the fresh fat, which is
quite suitable for yielding material adapted to the preparation of
margarine, for instance, being kept distinct from the lower grades
which cannot possibly be classed as edible. Selection and separation
treatment of the two grades--edible and inedible--are profitable
because, while both are in keen demand, it is the former which is able
to command the higher market figure. But when edible fats are sought
it is preferable to employ the steam-jacketed digester because the fat
thus obtained, from the fact that the steam is not brought into contact
with the material during the cooking process, is of enhanced quality,
being sweeter, while all the natural properties of the fat are retained
for reasons already set forth.

Although, therefore, the most popular system in vogue for reclaiming
fat from slaughter-house residues is exposed to criticism, owing to
what may be described as lack of efficiency in operation due to the
recovery of the fat not being as high as it might be, it appears to
meet the conditions of the average municipal abattoir. City and borough
corporations, unlike private organizations, are not in the position
to scrap an existing plant for one which is of later date and greater
efficiency, because there is not the same incentive to reap the utmost
benefits attainable as prevails under private conditions where the
full brunt of competition is encountered. Of course, the initiative
of corporations is just as pronounced as that of private firms and
individuals, but it is the exception rather than the rule. Furthermore,
the municipality is not in the position to run a plant under full load,
or even at a uniform pressure the whole time. It is only able to handle
the waste as it accumulates during its own abattoir operations. On the
other hand, the private exploiter can acquire a plant of such capacity
as to cope with the steady flow of material from the slaughter-houses,
thereby keeping the by-product recovery installation working steadily
at a point approaching its productive limits.

Nevertheless, the results achieved with the prevailing type of plant
afford interesting reading, although it is somewhat misleading
to cite them. The material varies so widely both in quantity and
quality, while the ultimate fat-yield likewise fluctuates markedly.
A fat bullock which has been condemned would naturally be expected
to furnish a good contribution of fat. On the other hand, only a low
percentage could reasonably be anticipated from a lean cow. In these
circumstances a comparison without full details concerning the material
handled is difficult. The figures available may be set down as being
representative, though they should be accepted as being typical rather
than empirical.

A consignment of condemned meat, weighing 2,240 lb., was placed in the
digester. The quantities of the respective materials recovered were:--

                           Lb.        Per cent.
  Tallow                   336    or     15
  Fibrine or meat-meal   392-428  or  17¹⁄₂-20
  Bone-meal              280-336  or  12¹⁄₂-15

In another instance a somewhat heavier consignment of condemned meat
was committed to the recovery plant. Its composition was:--

                  Lb.
  Beef          84,000
  Pork           1,607
  Mutton           818
  Veal             354
  Offal         20,370
              --------
        Total  107,149

The tallow yield was 21,638 lb., or 20 per cent. of the total volume
passed through the digester. Pronounced quantities of the fibrine and
bone-meal were also secured. But the tallow yield alone should serve
to convince even the most sceptical that it pays to submit condemned
meat and slaughter-house refuse to a process of by-product recovery.
It was not so many years ago that such valuable waste met with an
untimely end--incineration in the destructor as the most effective and
economical means for its disposal. Had this practice been followed
in the instance under review the authorities would have allowed
material worth, according to current market quotations, at least
£500--$2,500--to vanish up the chimney in preference to the display
of a little exertion and knowledge to secure what is in such wide and
urgent request--the fat.

While the average organization, either municipal or private, conducts
operations upon too limited a scale to deal with the gelatinous or
“stick liquor,” the large establishments, on the other hand, are
confronted with such immense quantities thereof as to render its
further treatment justifiable and profitable. But the liquid is
extremely thin or weak, that is low in the gelatinous constituent in
its crude form, and so requires to be concentrated. To effect this at
the lowest cost it should be passed through the Scott multiple effect
vacuum evaporators. These are heated by the exhaust steam. In this
form of evaporator the heating effect of the steam is multiplied in
several stages, thus doing so many times more work for one supply of
fuel as compared with a simple evaporator. The evaporation proceeds
progressively and continuously, the liquor leaving the evaporator at a
high degree of concentration owing to the water having been driven off.
The gelatinous residue accruing from this treatment may be blended with
the fibrine or meat-meal, thereby enhancing the value of the latter,
which thus becomes enriched with ammonia and protein to an appreciable
degree.

For some reason or other the treatment of the “stick liquor” has
not aroused the measure of serious attention in these islands which
it deserves. While, of course, greater results are attainable from
treatment of the liquid upon a huge scale, yet relatively small
quantities can be exploited very profitably, because the jelly finds
an attractive market as crude tub size, the demand for which to-day
is somewhat keen and firm. Doubtless hesitation to turn the stick
liquor to economic account is due to lack of knowledge concerning the
improvements in the rendering process, and the difficulty encountered
in this direction in the past. Under the old system, where the
practice was to evaporate these liquors in open vessels, the nuisance
created constituted the insurmountable obstacle. The work could not be
carried out without polluting the whole neighbourhood. With the Scott
evaporator, however, no more nuisance is created in concentrating the
offensive liquor than attends the exploitation of noisome fats by
the patent digesting process, for the simple reasons that the work
is conducted in closed vessels, and all obnoxious vapours thrown off
during the treatment are led to the furnace to be consumed, escape of
the free gases into the air being rendered totally impossible.

British waste exploiters are beginning to appreciate the advantages of
the closed evaporative system, and in their determination to secure
every retrievable ounce of commercially valuable products from waste
are now devoting greater attention to the stick liquor. The policy
is one which cannot fail to pay so long as it is conducted along the
correct lines such as I have indicated.

Before leaving the question of the stick liquor it is curious to remark
how some firms, while complimenting themselves upon the assiduity
and diligence with which they treat their wastes, are yet likely
to allow a certain material, and one which is of distinct value to
their own businesses, to slip through their fingers merely from lack
of knowledge. The abandonment of the stick liquor arising from the
digestive treatment of meat-waste represents an interesting example of
such inadvertence.

Many manufacturers dealing with meat products have installed a
fat-recovery system for the treatment of their waste upon the spot,
the primary idea being to secure the good edible fat for re-use
in connection with their own processes. Furthermore, from their
association with the cooked-meat trade they find it necessary to absorb
material quantities of gelatine to carry out the glazing work in the
preparation of brawn, pies and other dainties. They purchase the crude
gelatine for the purpose, submitting it to careful treatments to adapt
it to their varying requirements. Yet, if they but knew it, they have
no need to spend a single penny--or cent--upon gelatine wherewith to
conduct the final appetizing touches to their wares. They have as much
of this raw material as they can possibly require immediately to hand
in the stick liquor, and which, in the majority of instances, they
allow to escape.

As a matter of fact this liquid residue is far preferable to the
commercial gelatine which they buy for glazing purposes. They need
only to attach an evaporator to their recovery plant to bring about
its concentration. But this is not the only advantage. The gelatine
has to be of varying densities or strengths according to its precise
application. When they have their own evaporator this desideratum
is readily fulfilled. It is only necessary to draw off the material
from the evaporators when it has reached the requisite degree of
concentration for immediate use. Not only is appreciable time saved,
but the up-to-date firms are better off in pocket because they are
utilizing a waste for which otherwise they would have to employ a
purchased commodity. Even if they conduct concentration to the
absolute it does not matter; the article is then recovered in the form
of an edible jelly. This can be clarified, if desired, to be sold as
such, or it can be sold to fellow-manufacturers who do not happen to
have such a plant. Failing such disposal there is no difficulty in
selling the jellied mass as tub size.

In a previous chapter I have described the reclamation process
practised by the military authorities in connection with bones
arising from the cutting-up of meat for the army, as well as those
recovered from the swill-tubs. As indicated, however, exploitation is
conducted only to a certain point, when the bones are handed over to
the degreasers. It is then that the true recovery of the commercial
constituents of the bone commences. The bone is an invaluable friend
to the human race as an article of commerce, though it is to be feared
that what may be described as the “bone tree” is only imperfectly
understood. Its far-reaching value as a fertilizer is certainly
appreciated, but this really represents the final application of the
article, and may be said to be the only remaining field of utility for
the ultimate residue of a residue. Bones enter into a wide range of
industrial and manufacturing operations. For this reason they should be
carefully gathered and retained for surrender to recognized collecting
mediums rather than suffer abandonment or destruction.

The housewife is prone to regard them as mere waste when she has
extracted the utmost recoverable value therefrom in the kitchen.
She may possibly retain them until the itinerant specialist in this
commodity, to wit, the rag-and-bone man, comes round, in which event it
is sure to be sped once more on a journey of industrial exploitation.
But at least one-third of the bones which enter the households of
Britain escape reclamation. They are wantonly wasted, and it is to be
feared that the kitchen stove is mainly responsible for this loss. The
volume of bones which should be forthcoming from domestic circles in
Great Britain, were the dictates of thrift religiously followed, is
scarcely appreciated, but it is estimated that the supply should be at
least 100 tons per week from every million members of the population.

In these islands the bones are divided into two broad classes. The one
division, comprising what is known as “green” (raw) bones, represents
those collected from butchers’ shops, bacon-cutting works, and other
similar sources. The second class, defined as “streeters,” include
those forthcoming from the recognized collectors of such waste, hotels,
restaurants, clubs, and private houses, and are those which have been
passed through one or more cooking processes.

In the case of green bones it is customary to digest them, when really
fresh, with open steam to recover the edible fat. Shank and marrow
bones, as distinct from rough bones, are also able to yield a certain
proportion of edible fat, and after having been digested or boiled
still retain a considerable percentage of grease which it pays to
extract. Consequently these, together with a certain quantity of less
fresh green bones, and the streeters, are then passed through the
benzine extractor to be degreased down to 1 per cent.

The shank and marrow bones are sawn up, the centre sections being
selected for the production of such useful articles as knife and fork
handles, buttons, and other utilitarian commodities for which their
composition renders them eminently suitable. The ends or knuckles are
degreased by submission to the solvent extraction process, and then,
in some works, are subjected to further chemical treatment, which is
somewhat elaborate, to be converted into baking-powder.

Otherwise the bones, after being degreased, are passed through other
processes for the extraction of their gelatinous constituent. This
is secured in the form of a liquor which is evaporated in vacuo to a
jelly. The last-named is cooled into cakes and then dried on nets,
or, if preferred, the liquor may be dried direct into glue-powder. By
following a more complicated process gelatine can also be prepared from
the degreased bones. But the gelatine thus obtained does not compare in
quality with that extracted from skins. The degelatinizing process is
not always followed, for the reason that some makers prefer to produce
the higher quality bone-meal which is procurable from non-degelatinized
bone. Obviously, however, the more profitable and economic procedure is
to pass the bones through an associated glue plant.

The ultimate residue, whether degelatinised or not, is a bone-meal
which constitutes the well-known fertilizer. The bone-meal, to be of
the utmost feeding value to the soil, should carry little or no fat.
At the same time, however, it should be rich in ammonia and phosphoric
acid or superphosphate, which is determined in terms of tribasic
phosphate of lime. To show how these requirements can be adequately
fulfilled by submitting the raw waste to a complete recovery process,
such as I have described, an analysis of a typical bone-meal produced
from degreased bones--degreased by the benzine extraction process--but
which have not been degelatinized, is given thus:--

                                      Per cent.
  Tribasic phosphate of lime          46·60
  Nitrogen, 6·07 per cent. = ammonia   7·37
  Moisture                             8·04
  Fat                                  1

The high percentage of ammonia, namely 7·37 per cent., deserves
especial notice inasmuch as it compares with a yield of 4·5 per cent.,
which is the average figure recorded with fertilizing meal obtained
from steamed bones. It may possibly come as a surprise to many to learn
that it is the proportion of the nitrogenous content, as represented
by the ammonia, rather than the phosphoric acid content, which really
determines the commercial value of this manure. The higher the figure
to which the ammonia figure can be forced the more attractive the price
which the fertilizer will command upon the market. Thus, under normal
conditions, every 1 per cent. rise in the ammonia constituent will
increase the price of the bone-meal by 14s.--$3.50. On the other hand,
a 1 per cent. increase in the proportion of superphosphate only serves
to increase the price of the meal by 11d. to 1s. 2d.--22 to 28 cents.

The grease obtainable from green bones varies somewhat. It is affected
to a marked degree by the skill and care with which the butcher wields
his knife. If the bone should be scraped very clean and carefully,
naturally the bulk of the attached fat is removed. But an average
collection of green bones will yield about 15 per cent., or 360 lb.,
of fat per ton of bones treated, while the dry bone-meal will range
from 1,286 to 1,344 lb. Bones which have been collected from marine
store dealers and rag-and-bone merchants are not so liberal in fat
yield. The repeated cooking to which they have been subjected in
connection with the preparation of dishes for the table relieves them
of approximately 5 per cent. of the fat which they originally carried,
i.e. in the raw condition. Consequently, degreasing only enables about
10 per cent., or 250 lb., of fat to be recovered from every ton of
bones treated. In this instance the bone-meal yield may be set down at
1,568 to 1,680 lb. per ton of bones. The grease remaining in the meal
varies from 0·5 to 1 per cent.

As may logically be supposed, cattle-slaughtering for food produces
large quantities of blood. This is an extremely valuable residue, and
so is carefully collected in suitable vessels. It is then transferred
to shallow receptacles and permitted to stand for a time. Blood is
composed of two fundamental constituents--the serum and the clot
respectively. The former, which is the albumen, is the glutinous-like,
yellowish liquid which comes to the surface, the clot settling to
form as it were a sediment. The serum is recovered by skimming with a
suitable device, to be distributed in extremely thin layers, applied
with a brush, to dry. Such a careful procedure is imperative owing to
the difficulty of drying out albumen. When dry the blood-albumen is
peeled in the form of thin flakes. Its applications are numerous, one
of the most important being its employment for the clarification of
sugar. The clot is likewise secured to be sent to the special plant,
where it is also dried.

It is common knowledge that blood constitutes a magnificent fertilizer,
and this is the purpose to which the dried clot is applied. In a
well-designed vacuum drying plant, such as the Scott, which has been
designed especially to treat such residue, the efficiency is high. The
yield from the clot may be said to range from 25 to 30 per cent.--560
to 672 lb.--per ton of raw clot treated, and is recovered in the form
of a rich red dry powder.

One great objection levelled against the recovery of the blood for
fertilizing purposes has been the very offensive odour which is thrown
off during the drying operation. But when the task is conducted under
the vacuum system no such nuisance is created, because the obnoxious
gases are led to the fire to suffer combustion. In dryers of the
conventional type, in which the noxious gases are removed by the
aid of an exhausting fan, or suffer discharge into the chimney, the
process does represent an intolerable nuisance to the neighbourhood,
because there is nothing to prevent the pollution of the atmosphere.
Furthermore, and this is the most important point to remember, by
drying the blood under the vacuum system the ammonia content of the
waste, which normally is high, can be preserved to the full, owing to
the drying operation being carried out at a much lower temperature than
is incidental to the usual practice.

Dried blood appeals to the farmer for the nourishment of his land
essentially because of its pronounced proportion of nitrogen or
ammonia. Consequently it is incumbent to keep this figure as high as
possible and thus secure the advantages of market quotation. Naturally
the percentage thereof in the resultant meal will vary strikingly
according to the drying process practised. Ammonia is an exceedingly
volatile ingredient, its tendency to escape being accentuated as the
temperature employed is increased. It is only by keeping the heat
factor at a low level consistent with the complete fulfilment of the
desired operation, that the ammonia can be retained. Under the vacuum
system this end is assured, owing to the low boiling-point due to the
reduced pressure or vacuum. A typical analysis of vacuum-dried clot
blood may be cited:--

                     Per cent.
  Moisture            9
  Mineral matter      1·61
  Nitrogen           14·02
        ⤷
          = ammonia  17·02

In cases where the albumen is not required separately the whole blood
is dried without being separated or “clotted.”

It is obvious from what I have related, that the recovery of
by-products from what has always been regarded as waste of a most
repulsive character, that is from the popular point of view, can be
turned to striking commercial and industrial account. Similarly it
is only too apparent that such by-product reclamation as is possible
demands a plant of the most complete description, to ensure all and
every substance of utilitarian value being secured along the most
efficient lines and to the uttermost ounce.

The day has gone when the crude methods which sufficed to satisfy
individual or specific requirements should be continued. To endeavour
to render it profitable to recover but one article out of many which
are reclaimable simultaneously, and for the expenditure of only a
little more effort, time and money, may be compared with mining for one
hundred carat diamonds and allowing all those of lesser weight to fall
back into the earth.



CHAPTER VIII

TURNING WASTES INTO PAPER


Paper has been described as the World’s Friend. Truly the application
is apt, when we recall the varied, and, in some instances, almost
incredible uses to which it is put, from carpets to boxes, wheels of
infinite variety to artificial flowers, table linen to boards. Little
wonder, therefore, that we have come to regard it as indispensable to
our everyday social and industrial existence. Being cheap, abundant
and easy to obtain, is it surprising that we became extravagant in its
use? We scarcely ever hesitate to bestow even a passing thought as to
where, and how, we get it. We talk glibly of “imported” without pausing
a moment to reflect upon the real significance of the expression. It
was not until war burst upon us to deliver its many disconcerting jolts
that we came to our senses, and were then compelled to acknowledge that
while paper may be a most tractable servant it is certainly a tyrannous
master.

How many people would credit the statement that paper could exercise
any influence upon the cost of living? Not one in a thousand it is safe
to hazard. But let us reflect. In the days when paper or cardboard was
forthcoming in plenty the tradesman never contemplated for a moment
the suggestion that he should be sparing in his use of the commodity,
or even saddle his customer with the cost of this indispensable
wrapping material. What if a sheet of brown paper cost a farthing--half
a cent--or paper bags could be secured for ten a penny (2 cents)?
The expense was so trivial as to be insignificant. He could readily
shoulder it without any financial detriment to himself. But when that
sheet of paper cost approximately 1³⁄₄d.--3¹⁄₂ cents--or when the bag
involved an outlay of 1¹⁄₂d.--3 cents--the tradesman, turning over in
his mind the huge quantities he would be compelled to provide during
the business of the day, regarded the whole question in a different
spirit. He declined to bear the burden, and so promptly passed it on to
the customer.

To grasp the paper situation as it affects this island kingdom we
must hark back to the glorious days preceding 1914. We made paper
upon a relatively extensive scale in our own mills, and the industry
flourished amazingly. But to what extent did indigenous materials enter
into the composition of the article? Barely 10 per cent. We preferred
to buy 90 per cent. of our raw materials from foreign mills brought
into existence for this especial purpose, and, be it remarked _en
passant_, the foreigner found it highly lucrative to trade upon our
disinclination to prepare the products ourselves.

A British firm, which had built huge mills in Scandinavia for the
preparation of the essential raw material, disposed of its financial
interests to a foreign concern. The bargain was settled for a
round £7,000,000--$35,000,000! Surely this transaction suffices to
demonstrate that there is big money to be made preparing paper pulp,
as the raw material is called, for British paper mills. The fact
that in pre-war days we imported a round 2,000,000 tons of pulp and
paper during the course of the year serves to convey some idea of the
magnitude of the industry, and the extent to which this country became
dependent upon foreign sources of supply.

One hundred years ago, or even less, the British paper-making industry
was a staple. The paper was British made from British materials. In the
light of this knowledge one may well ask why, and how, we allowed this
profitable trade to slip through our fingers? The cause was not far to
seek. Our old pugnacious friend the wasp was primarily responsible for
the passing of this British industry. He, from his paper-making prowess
in the fabrication of his wonderful nest, set certain imaginative men
thinking hard. If this humble insect could contrive such a remarkably
tough and stout paper for home-building purposes from wood surely it
was not beyond the wit of men, with the bewildering array of mechanical
and chemical handmaids at his elbow, to do likewise!

Accordingly the observant, fertile, and patient minds went to work.
Within a short time they not only succeeded in imitating the wasp,
but evolved such a simple process in the doing of it as to make an
irresistible appeal to commerce. Incidentally while this one line
of investigation, the purely mechanical, was being pursued other
equally brilliant minds were perfecting a second means of achieving
a similar end by mechanical-chemical agency. In this manner commerce
became equipped with two efficient means for the reduction of trees
into paper, and at such a low figure as to render the conventional
competitive methods impossible, at least for the cheapest grades of
paper, such as are employed for our newspapers, popular periodicals,
and low-priced books.

To reap the rich rewards which invention dangled before commerce only
two fundamental requirements had to be fulfilled. The one was ample
cheap power in close proximity to virtually inexhaustible supplies
of the essential material, namely soft woods, which constituted
the second factor. Scandinavia held unrivalled attractions in this
respect. Accordingly the princes of the paper-making industry trekked
to Norway and Sweden, to convenient points amid the endless reaches
of forest, and there planted huge mills beside waterfalls and swiftly
running rivers, which were harnessed to provide the cheap power which
hydro-electric energy offered. The outlook was additionally alluring
from the circumstance that these mills, metaphorically speaking, could
be established within the proverbial stone’s throw of the biggest and
most promising markets of the world.

So Scandinavia succeeded in building up a rich monopoly which
experienced continuous prosperity until a few years ago. Then similar
activity became manifest in certain corners of Farther Britain, notably
in Newfoundland, Eastern Canada, and British Columbia, where, owing to
the prevailing climatic conditions favouring huge reserves of suitable
forests, ribbed with abundant water power, a bold bid was made, not
only for the European but the American markets as well. For the first
time in its history the Scandinavian interests were brought full tilt
against powerful competition.

With the advent of the halfpenny newspaper, the popular periodical,
and the cheap edition of a favourite author, all of which depend upon
mammoth circulations for their financial successes, the wood-pulp
industry received a tremendous boom. In 1913 British imports from
Scandinavia aggregated 756,252 tons valued at £3,533,509--$17,667,545.
Germany, attracted by the glamour of the commercial possibilities held
out in this direction, essayed to participate in the boom, her exports
of pulp to these islands during the above-mentioned year reaching
40,972 tons worth £330,456--$1,697,280. In comparison with the figure
for Scandinavia the Teuton contribution may appear small, but it must
not be forgotten that this represented a 50 per cent. increase in
Germany’s favour within two years. During the year in question Canada
and Newfoundland also swelled the home market, the aggregate of pulp
and paper accepted from their mills by Britain being 119,742 tons
valued at £279,374--$1,396,870.

Then came the war, and this upset the upward tendency of the foreign
manufacturers to an alarming degree, as well as causing distinct
stringency among ourselves. Germany was knocked out of the market in
one blow, while the demand for shipping likewise extinguished the
Canadian contributions. Then came the appointment of a Controller to
adjust the Scandinavian situation, and official action in regard to
restrictions, which were admittedly severe, threw the Scandinavian
industry all sixes and sevens. Some idea of the degree to which the
imports of paper and pulp from Scandinavia were hit may be gathered
from the figures for 1918--390,000 tons as compared with the pre-war
supply of 2,000,000 tons, representing a fall of 82 per cent.

The situation at home assumed an ominous aspect. Cutting off imports
reduced supplies to a figure hopelessly below demand. The issue was
further aggravated from the circumstance that the domestic industry had
not been advanced to the position where it could take up the producing
reins to make up the deficiency. The output from British mills during
1918 only approximately equalled the importation for the year, and was
less than double the figure at which it stood five years before, which
was about 200,000 tons.

In these circumstances the Controller was called upon to make a round
700,000 tons of paper go as far as had 2,000,000 in pre-war days. As
a matter of fact the last-named figure was short of the mark, for the
simple reason that sources of consumption, and heavy ones at that,
which had been non-existent five years previously had sprung up and
were in the full blaze of activity. I refer to the various Government
departments created as a direct result of the war.

Where does all the paper go? To the lay mind this question appears
impossible of a comprehensive answer. He concedes that the publishing
and commercial worlds, from the magnitude of their operations, must
absorb colossal quantities, but this reflection does not bring complete
comfort. During the war period it was not so difficult to reduce the
apparent enigma to simple explanation. The Stationery Office devoured
paper to the extent of 57,000 tons a year. The Ministry of Munitions
absorbed 1,000 tons a week in the actual manufacture of missiles, one
use being the substitution of aluminium by paper for filling the tips
of bullets, while fuse cylinders were also contrived from paper instead
of from tin. The Ministry of Food called for 400 to 500 tons of paper
to provide the cards for sugar, meat and butter rations, while the
issuance of the subsequent ration books ran away with another 750 tons.
The War Office was probably the heaviest consumer, from the simple fact
that all jams and preserves issued to the army, and packed in one-pound
consignments, were served in paper cartons instead of tins. Seeing that
the quantities of jams issued in this manner ran into millions, the
consumption of paper for the containers was stupendous. Such zealous
and ingenious recourse to paper instead of metals for such purposes was
readily explicable. For instance, at the time, tin was costing about
£320--$1,600--per ton as compared with brown paper at £35--$175--and
cardboard at £50--$250--per ton respectively. It was to the advantage
of the nation to abandon costly metals whenever and wherever a paper
substitute was equally serviceable.

To counteract the shortage in supplies from abroad every effort was
made to extend and to develop the domestic manufacturing facilities.
This was not such a simple task as it appeared, inasmuch as we are
sadly lacking in the reserves of the necessary material. We possess
no soft-wood forests waiting to be turned into paper. In these
circumstances the alternative was to embark upon a voyage of discovery
and experiment in the hope that an efficient inexpensive range of
substitutes might be unearthed to take the place of the imported
wood-pulp, either exclusively, which was scarcely to be expected, or
to a very pronounced degree.

Official intervention brought home to us one very heavy wastage. This
was in regard to the pulp which we imported. Two different kinds
of pulp are produced abroad: The one, produced after the manner
practised by our friend the wasp, but by mechanical agency, is known
as mechanical pulp; the other, contrived by the aid of chemicals, is
commercially known as chemical or sulphite pulp. In so far as the
first named was concerned official investigation revealed that the
Scandinavian mills were accustomed to send the article in a wet form.
Now, seeing that wet pulp comprises 50 per cent. of moisture, it will
be seen that the vessels bearing this commodity--and tonnage was
severely limited--were really working only to one-half of their actual
carrying capacity. With every ton of pulp the ships were compelled to
carry one ton of water, and to ship water to Britain is comparable with
sending snow to Greenland.

The Scandinavian mills were more than willing to ship wet pulp by
the thousands of tons, and the British paper-makers were every whit
as ready to receive it. To obtain the raw material in this form
facilitated, expedited and cheapened the actual paper-making process.
It was another instance of British readiness to sacrifice every other
interest upon the altars of cheapness and minimum of effort. The
Controller, naturally, demurred against paying freight for the carriage
of water which is only too abundant in these islands, and forthwith
demanded that the pulp should be sent over in the dry form. In this
manner he achieved a laudable object: he doubled the quantity of pulp
supplied to Britain without calling upon a further ton of shipping for
the purpose.

The pulp-makers of Scandinavia, and the paper-makers of Britain,
objected to this rational action. Strong protests were levelled against
the new order. The affected interests went to great length to explain
that the wet pulp was essential, and advanced their reasons--technical,
financial and otherwise, but they failed to upset the decision which
had been made. The Controller was not seeking the unattainable, because
a certain proportion of dry mechanical pulp has always been shipped
to this country. It was merely another instance of affected interests
desiring to achieve their respective purposes along the lines of least
resistance. In no circumstances, normal or war, can the conveyance of
water with raw material to these islands be justifiable.

The reason why the pulp-maker was so anxious to ship his pulp wet was
because under such conditions he could market it at a lower figure and
dispatch it with greater facility. The paper-maker championed the wet
form for the reason that it was more convenient to him; he was able
to turn it straightaway into his machines. But when imported dry the
pulp must be subjected to certain preliminary treatment which involves
time, trouble, and a certain expense. Consequently, out of 100 tons of
mechanical pulp normally shipped to Britain, only one ton was in the
dry form; the other 99 tons were in the more handy wet form. Certainly
there are accepted technical objections to dry pulp. It is brittle and
apt to chip. But wet or dry it cannot be used exclusively and solely
in the preparation of even the lowest grades of newspaper. A certain
proportion of the chemical pulp must be added to impart the requisite
degree of firmness and stoutness to the fabric.

A little investigation reveals why the Scandinavian pulp-makers were
firmly set upon shipping the pulp wet. In pre-war days the British
paper-maker paid from £2 5s. to £2 10s.--$11.25 to $12.50--a ton
for the moist pulp delivered at a British port. Freight was a mere
bagatelle, averaging about 5s.--$1.25--per ton. To convert the wet into
dry pulp prior to shipment the Swedish pulp-makers must use coal. This,
thanks to hydro-electric energy, is not required in the fabrication
of the actual pulp. But Sweden is deficient in coal resources and
compliance with the British official request involved the importation
of British coal. Inasmuch as it takes from 1,120 to 1,680 lb. of coal
to dry one ton of pulp it will be seen that the Swedish manufacturers
were faced with a fuel bill which was likely to run into big figures.
Under war conditions British coal was expensive, while quality was
subject to wide variation. At that time the coal commanded from £8
to £10--$40 to $50--per ton in Sweden. Consequently, to his disgust,
the pulp-maker was confronted with the necessity to incur an extra
manufacturing charge ranging from £4 to £8--$20 to $40--per ton of pulp
produced.

It is to be feared that the Swedish manufacturers, while anxious to
sell as much as possible to, were very reluctant to buy, from these
islands. They denounced the British official decree in no unmeasured
terms, and sought by every means in their power to secure its
withdrawal. But for once British authority was not solicitous of the
interests of the foreigner. Recognizing the futility of protest the
Scandinavian makers set to work to comply with our demands, and so
shipped the pulp in the dry form. We received the benefits accruing
from this line of action because we received twice as much pulp as
formerly for the same amount of tonnage. True, it cost us more, the
price running up to £32--$160--per ton, but it is to be feared that the
foreign manufacturers took full advantage of the peculiar situation
which prevailed in accordance with that inexorable law of supply and
demand, although they maintained that their manufacturing charges
were heavily inflated, not only from the purchase of the necessary
coal, but from the higher wages which labour demanded. But even at the
above figure we derived distinct advantage. Seeing that one ton of
dry represented the equivalent to two tons of wet pulp we were really
paying at the rate of only £16--$80--per ton, less the sum which had
to be deducted from the sale of our coal. Restriction of freight had a
good deal to do with the enhanced prices. Only 250,000 tons of shipping
a year were allocated to this traffic, and what cost 5s.--$1.25--a
ton to ship in 1913 cost £13--$65 per ton in 1918. British ships
participating in this trade were thus able to get back something of the
heavy prices we paid to the foreigner for an indispensable commodity.
But even £32--$160--per ton for dry mechanical pulp contrasted
favourably with the chemical pulp, also shipped dry. This, which before
the war cost £7 10s.--$37.50--per ton shot up to £47--$235--a ton at
one period, and recorded £35--$175--per ton during 1918, while paper,
even of the lowest grade, which commanded £10--$50--a ton in 1913,
realized £45--$225--per ton in 1918.

Contemporaneously with the adjustment of the various questions
pertaining to the Scandinavian pulp and paper, the authorities set to
work to develop the domestic raw material industry. Obviously the most
promising founts were rags and waste-paper. It was computed that, if
these available sources were fully exploited, it would be possible to
secure some 300,000 tons of suitable material during the year.

However, it was seen that the first step would be to instil into the
minds of the community the necessity to observe rigid economy in the
use of paper. Rationing brought home the fact that a paper shortage
existed, and, of itself, led users to be more sparing in their uses
of this article, in precisely the same way as similar measures
effected comparative results in connection with foodstuffs and other
commodities. But in so far as paper is concerned it is difficult to
preach the gospel of economy; it has been ridiculously cheap and
abundant for far too long. Nevertheless much was accomplished, but
whether the lessons thus imparted have been taken sufficiently to heart
as to become ingrained is problematical. Reversion to former conditions
will probably promote a state of affairs as bad as, if not worse than,
before.

The wasteful consumption of paper was by no means confined to any
particular class of the community. Industry was every whit as
improvident. For instance, the soap-making trade naturally absorbs
immense quantities of the article, but the manufacturers were shown
how, by practising simple saving methods, they might do with 10,000
tons less per year, which, at the prices then prevailing, represented a
round £350,000--$1,750,000--per annum. To one firm alone the suggestion
represented a possible economy of £75,000--$375,000--a year. What is
possible of attainment in the soap-making industry is equally feasible
in other trades, especially those identified with provisions. If such
broad economies be carried out they could scarcely fail to exercise,
under competitive trading conditions, an appreciable influence upon
the price of the products concerned. Consequently, paper, as already
indicated, has a more or less direct bearing upon the cost of living.

The wastage of paper throughout the country is appalling. Upon the
completion of its designed function the material is either burned,
consigned to dust-bin, or allowed to pursue an aimless journey at the
mercy of the wind through our highways and byways. People of a thrifty
turn of mind undoubtedly save their waste, disposing of it at intervals
to itinerant collectors, who acquire the litter of the house in
exchange for something more or less attractive, if not useful, in kind.

Previous to the war very little of this waste found its way back
to the domestic paper mills to be re-made. The percentage of waste
blended with new pulp was very low, certainly not more than 2 per
cent. Even this was almost entirely restricted to what is known as
“broke,” that is the trimmings from the reels when repairing breakages
in the continuous lengths running through the printing or paper-making
machines.

Strange to relate, nearly the whole of the waste-paper recovered from
the household, office and factory was exported, principally to the
United States of America, until an American firm, discovering Britain
to be a waste-paper mine, established itself in our midst to salvage
an appreciable quantity of what we regarded as a nuisance. This refuse
was utilized as raw material for the manufacture of paper-boards, the
American analogue to our familiar strawboard, to form book covers,
stout packing, and to meet other conditions where adequate protection
to contents is demanded. This became a prosperous undertaking and
afforded merely another instance of how the stranger within our gates
has been able to reap material profit at our expense and through our
folly.

Although this firm absorbed an enormous quantity of our waste-paper
it could not cope with the avalanche of this refuse. Many additional
thousands of tons were shipped annually to the New World to be worked
up. It seems remarkable that the Americans should have found it
profitable to collect our residue, to freight it across 3,000 miles
of ocean, and to fabricate therefrom their particular range of goods,
instead of turning the material available on their own side to such
account. But the venture proved decidedly profitable as the results
testified. Indeed, it was the enterprise of this pushing firm which
first brought home to us the wealth capable of being derived from the
commercial exploitation of waste-paper, and which led us to introduce a
collecting system upon an organized basis.

When the authorities grasped the significance of the waste-paper issue
they promptly took steps to retain the whole of the residue in these
islands. Export was prohibited; it could only be returned to British
mills. A country-wide appeal was made urging every trader and every
private citizen to conserve his waste-paper, whether it were used
envelopes, newspapers, postcards or fragments of brown paper. So urgent
became the demand for this raw material that housewives were requested
to ransack their cupboards and lumber-rooms for odds and ends of every
description in the paper line--old novels, abandoned magazines and
what not; business houses, workshops, and factories were invited to
indulge in spring-cleanings to turn out musty files of old letters,
receipts, memoranda, obsolete account books and other accumulations;
paper hangings stripped from walls in course of redecoration, instead
of being burned, were sedulously bagged; even hoardings were divested
of their hard thick hides of superimposed posters to provide food for
the paper mills. Municipal authorities were urged to participate in the
round-up, since it was recognized that imposing quantities of paper
evaded all other methods of recovery from inadvertent committal to the
dust-bin. In another chapter I have indicated what was done in this
direction.

The authorities stimulated the great national paper-chase by
every possible artifice. Waste-paper organizers, to the number of
thirty-five, were appointed to various parts of the country to foster
and to supervise the collection of this refuse. Licences were granted
to approved merchants authorizing them to deal in the article. Prices
were fixed and graduated according to the quality of the waste, and
upon a liberal basis to encourage one and all to conserve and to hand
over their accumulations of what they considered to be sheer rubbish.
In this way waste-paper was poured back into the British mills for
remanufacture in a steady stream of 4,300 tons a week. For a time the
volume was maintained, but then it gradually and persistently declined
because as the founts became exhausted the quantity of paper put back
into circulation suffered a steady decrease.

Despite the elaborate precautions observed, and the salvage
organizations instituted, a vast quantity of the refuse escaped
recovery. Paper is something like the elusive pin: where it goes no one
appears to know. During the period when salvage was being pressed home
with all vigour the British mills were turning out about 700,000 tons
of paper a year. Of this aggregate approximately one-fifth--150,000
tons--went to the army in the field in France in some form or other.
A further 150,000 tons could not be expected to be recovered as waste,
being either retained or submitted to certain necessary applications
such as filing, the lighting of fires, and so on. This left a balance
of 400,000 tons which went into circulation, but of which only 200,000
tons were retrieved to be sent back to the mills to be repulped. What
became of the outstanding 200,000 tons it was impossible to say:
it simply disappeared. Probably much suffered destruction through
ignorance, while no doubt much was lost through being soiled to such a
degree as to be beyond redemption. But the fact remained that of the
700,000 tons produced at least 50 per cent., or 350,000 tons--including
the 150,000 tons sent to France--were completely lost, whereas by the
exercise of a little forethought, care and trouble the greater part
thereof might have been retrieved. Through negligence or ignorance the
nation was losing a round £3,350,000--$16,750,000--a year, because the
paper was worth at least one penny--2 cents--a pound in the waste form.

From the magnitude of the absolute losses it is obvious that we could
never have sustained ourselves for long upon the forthcoming supplies
of waste-paper and the diminished foreign imports of pulp to serve
as raw materials. Accordingly search was made for other potential
raw materials of domestic origin, the governing principle of this
mission being to place the country in such a position as to be quite
independent of the foreigner in all matters pertaining to paper, not
only during the war period, but after the cessation of hostilities.

Paper, in one respect, is a curious manufactured product. It can be
made from almost any fibrous material with the exception of wool.
The knowledge of this fact prompted members of the general public to
advance the claims of divers and wondrous substances. As may be readily
imagined, the majority of these suggestions erred somewhat upon the
side of the fantastic and chimerical. The mere fact that paper can
be made from almost anything does not necessarily imply that it is
commercially practicable to exploit even the most obvious raw materials
indiscriminately. There is a wide and deep gulf between the laboratory,
the cradle of experiment, and the factory, the home of application.
In the first-named the factor of cost of production does not count;
in the last-named it constitutes the crux of the issue. Consequently
the majority of the recommendations submitted by the uninitiated
suffered from the disability of being perfectly feasible but hopelessly
impracticable. Submission of a suggestion to the cold, unrelenting,
unsympathetic manufacturing analysis and subsequent translation into
pounds, shillings, and pence offered the incontestable reply to the
inevitable question “Will it pay?”

One article of domestic origin, the spartina, or common couch grass,
which thrives in abundance upon many stretches of our coastline,
notably Hampshire, was responsible for an avalanche of letters
containing inquiries as to why this material was not being turned to
account. Apparently every individual who had visited the neighbourhood
of the Solent, and had observed the density of this growth, assailed
the authorities for their lethargy. Esparto grass was imported from
Spain to make paper, and yet here we were ignoring a readily obtainable
indigenous grass similar in every respect!

But the claims of spartina had been promptly investigated--to be
found wanting. In the first place, when a new material appears to be
promising the question as to whether sufficiently imposing supplies
could be forthcoming must be considered carefully. The paper-making
machines are insatiable and avaricious, devouring raw material not by
the ton but by the thousands of tons. This in turn gives rise to the
question as to the cost of securing the necessarily heavy supplies.
One enthusiast, who had advanced the claims of the couch grass, was
interrogated upon the subject because he had evolved a means of
gathering the spartina. When he was asked the cost of his process he
blandly replied that he could do it for £15--$75--per ton. He received
a shock when he was told that there was another material, forthcoming
in far greater quantities, and far more suitable for the purpose, which
could be obtained and delivered to the mill for £4 10s.--$22.50--a ton!
I may remark that spartina grass is being used for paper-making where
the conditions favour its cheap collection and transport. Speaking
generally, however, with prices at an artificial level, any material
costing more than £5--$25--per ton delivered at the mill--this figure
is inclusive of collecting, transport, and other charges--stands little
chance of favourable consideration. Under normal trading conditions
the prospect will be even less attractive.

The acquisition of the raw material represents merely the preliminary
phase of the whole issue. To reduce it to pulp involves the consumption
of coal--cheap water-power is rare in these islands--and so the
probable fuel bill requires to be sounded. How many tons of coal will
be required to produce a ton of pulp? It is a simple question and one
which prompts another, closely allied thereto, namely, “How many tons
of such-and-such material will be required to furnish a ton of paper?”

This is the rock upon which many buoyant expectations have been
completely wrecked. Still confining ourselves to the couch grass, and
considering the second factor first, we find that it has rather a low
yield efficiency, this being in the neighbourhood of 27 per cent. In
other words, it will require nearly four tons of crude grass to produce
one ton of paper. When ranged beside esparto grass, with which it seems
to have much in common, and which therefore is a convenient comparative
unit, the outlook for the couch grass is completely shattered, because
the efficiency yield of esparto is high, 43·5 per cent. Only a little
more than two tons of grass are necessary to produce one ton of paper.

But the fuel factor is far more destructive to the claims of the
waste grass growing upon the seashore. To make one ton of paper from
esparto grass, under the most favourable conditions, requires 3 tons
of coal. In actual practice it ranges from 3·5 to 4 tons. But with
spartina grass the coal consumption is forced up to 5, and even to 7,
tons under the unfavourable conditions prevailing in many paper-mills.
Accordingly, it will be seen that couch grass cannot be construed
into an attractive raw material for paper. I may say there are other
objections to its use, but the foregoing are sufficient to bring about
its rejection in this phase of utility.

Even if we take those materials which are accepted as being the most
favourable to the manufacture of paper we gain enlightenment. One
ton of waste-paper will not yield one ton of new paper as might be
imagined. The loss in re-manufacture is about 25 per cent., so that
from the 58,000 tons which enter into the made waste of the country we
could produce about 44,000 tons of new paper. Cotton rags have a high
yield efficiency, being in the neighbourhood of 85 per cent. and upon
this basis we might safely expect a yield of some 16,000 tons of paper
from the 19,000 tons of rags committed to the dust-bins of the country.

It may be mentioned that in the search for indigenous materials
whence paper might be manufactured, the whole gamut of obvious
domestic contributions to the issue have been examined, including such
substances as sawdust, wood-shavings, wood-slats, grasses of which
there are over 100 varieties, mimosa bark, peat, straw, flax-wastes,
flax-shoves, and dried potato vine. Of this wide selection only four
materials hold out any promise of extending commercial possibilities.
These include sawdust, wood-shavings, wood-slats and straw, with
potato haulm serving as an excellent material for the fabrication of a
coarse, strong, brown packing paper. Of course, it must be explained
that these materials are in addition to those generally utilized in the
industry, such as rags, sacking, bagging and reeds, to mention only a
few substances.

The definite end sought in the first instance was not so much the
discovery of suitable substances to supersede entirely the imported
mechanical and chemical pulps, as the presentation of materials which
might be considered effectively as useful for dilution purposes. By
this is meant the production of a pulp, made perhaps from some familiar
product, which, when added to a certain proportion of the conventional
pulp, would yield a paper comparable with that derived from the
last-named exclusively. Any success recorded in connection with a
diluent offers the means to enable a specific quantity of the imported
raw material to be induced to go farther than would be the case
otherwise, this tendency becoming accentuated as dilution is increased.

It was essentially in this light that the feasibility of pressing
sawdust, wood-slats, and other wood and vegetable refuse was
considered. Of course, behind all these developments, experiments,
and researches, there has been the lingering hope that ways and means
might ultimately be found of enabling us to dispense with outside
sources of supply in their entirety. This hope still prevails, and,
if properly fostered, may lead to realization. But to consummate such
an end it is essential to employ materials capable of yielding a pulp
as closely resembling the article derived from the tree as possible.
Patient investigation proved that sawdust offered the most attractive
possibilities in this connection.

While doubt has been expressed concerning the adaptability of sawdust
to this duty there are the experiences of Canada and the United States
to guide us. Indeed, we need not go out of these islands to obtain
confirmatory evidence of its applicability to paper-making. Britain
pioneered the utilization of sawdust for the manufacture of paper, and,
by a strange coincidence, it was the Napoleonic wars which compelled
us to resort to such a manifestation of enterprise. With the exit of
Napoleon from the world’s political stage the necessity to exploit
sawdust in this connection disappeared, and so the process fell into
disuse, to lie dormant for a round one hundred years. Consequently the
use of sawdust really represents but a revival of an old practice.

But, so far as these islands are concerned, and under normal
conditions, sawdust can scarcely be regarded as a paper-making
material. The quantity available from our sawmills is too meagre to
enable the idea to be practised extensively. There is just one chance
of placing the development upon a firm footing. We are big consumers
of timber, but the greater part of our requirements in this field
are satisfied by importing supplies in a manufactured condition.
Attempts are being made to restore the British wood-working industry
by importing lumber in the slabbed condition, that is square trimmed
logs either in the form of huge rafts or demountable ships. Should
this development mature then our sawmills will become clogged with
huge accumulations of wood-waste in the form of the sawdust, the
exploitation of which will be keenly appreciated.

During the war, however, the necessity to exploit the forests of
Britain to contribute to the requirements of the army and mines in
regard to wood has resulted in the piling-up of huge heaps of sawdust.
It was discovered that in Scotland alone this residue was accumulating
at the rate of 60,000 tons a year, through the activity of the
Canadian lumberjacks. Conservative estimates place the annual sawdust
yield throughout the British Isles at 150,000 tons. Of this gigantic
contribution only from 5 to 10 per cent. is drawn from hard woods. The
balance, 90 to 95 per cent., is derived from the soft woods and so
furnishes a huge reservoir of potential raw material for paper-making.

Coincident with the accumulation of sawdust are the fabrication of huge
piles of wood-slats--the trimmings from the logs. These also represent
sheer refuse, the only possible disposal being in the form of fire or
kindling wood. At one lumber-camp in Scotland there was found a pile, a
sprawling, ragged and jagged stack, house-high, covering 20 acres, and
containing, at a modest estimate, from 300 to 500 tons of wood-waste.
It was ideal for paper-making as investigations proved, but was then
merely being allowed to rot.

The process of preparing sawdust for the paper-maker is very simple and
inexpensive. It may be described as an application of the system for
producing mechanical pulp, because, in the main, the resultant product
is very similar to the latter in its essential characteristics. The
waste, being the product of the buzz-saw, is coarse in texture. It is
first passed over a riddle of wide mesh, which, while allowing the dust
proper to fall through readily, collects the pieces of bark, chips,
and other fragments of wood which may have become associated with the
dust. This residue is thrown to one side for conversion by a different
method. The sifted sawdust is dumped into a hopper to fall by gravity
in a steady stream into the mill, which is somewhat reminiscent of the
familiar mortar-mill, below. As it enters the latter it is caught up by
the revolving grindstone and crushed against the stationary stone, the
result being that it is disintegrated and pulverized. By virtue of the
centrifugal action set up the dust, as it is whirled round, naturally
works from the centre to the periphery of the wheels, the coarser
particles or tailings being flung out, while the finely-divided dust,
produced by the grinding action, falls into a separate receptacle.

The tailings are recovered to be re-passed through the mill, and,
in time, for the most part are also ground to the desired degree of
fineness. A certain proportion of residue defies reduction in this
manner, but it is not discarded. It is retrieved to be used in the
manufacture of coarse brown paper. Two methods of grinding, even in the
vertical mill, are practised. The one known as the wet process involves
the addition of water to the dust, which thus becomes hydrated, the
resultant saw-pulp, as it is called, being somewhat similar to the
familiar wet mechanical pulp. The alternative process is described as
dry grinding, the sap in the wood constituting the only moist agent.

It may be mentioned that, in the very earliest attempts to emulate the
wasps’ paper-making process, the experimenter ground the wood to dust
by applying the log to the face of a grindstone which was revolving,
water being the lubricant, the practice recalling the grinding of
tools. The particles of wood fell, with the water, into the trough
beneath. The surplus water was drawn off, leaving a mashy residue or
pulp--hence the name.

In grinding the sawdust the coarse material is reduced to a fine
powdery substance, soft and silky in texture when dry, but which
retains the essential fibrous characteristic, though naturally the
length of the individual fibre is extremely minute. But pulp so
produced possesses one advantage for the paper-maker--it demands no
preliminary boiling. It can be discharged direct into the beater,
as the machine which prepares the raw material for the paper-making
machine is called, with the waste-paper, sulphite or mechanical pulp,
or a mixture of both, it only being necessary for the agitation of the
contents of the beater to be conducted thoroughly to bring about the
perfect blending of the ingredients.

I have emphasized the circumstance that this saw-pulp may only be
considered as a diluent. This may be varied from 10 to 35 per cent.
according to the quality of the paper desired. The issue of the
_Times_, dated June 15, 1918, was printed on paper containing 20 per
cent. of this saw-pulp, but I have seen other newspapers the paper for
which was prepared from pulp diluted to the extent of 35 per cent. with
the saw-pulp. With the accumulation of experience in the working up
of this material marked improvements are to be recorded in regard to
quality of the resultant paper which has enabled dilution to be carried
to an enhanced degree without imperilling the factor of strength which
the finished product must possess to enable it to be passed through the
newspaper printing machine at a speed of 500 feet per minute without
breaking. Under modern conditions it is difficult to determine whether
or not saw-pulp has been introduced into the composition of the paper,
which testifies conclusively to the perfection of production.

This economic utilization of one waste from the sawmill is of decisive
financial significance. Cost of production is extremely low, because
the power for driving the grinding mill may be obtained by firing the
steam boilers either with sawdust itself, the consumption thereof being
small, or with the refuse resulting from the preliminary sifting of
the dust. Indeed, the process holds out such alluring possibilities
that there is no reason why every sawmill should not include a grinding
mill to treat the residue on the spot, shipping the saw-pulp direct
to the mill, thus turning what is now an unmitigated nuisance and a
source of danger into a distinct commercial asset. It is estimated
that a grinding mill requiring 25 h.p. for its operation could turn
out 1¹⁄₃ tons of saw-pulp in the course of the ordinary 8 hours’
working day or 7 tons a week. The cost of such a plant would be about
£400--$2,000--and the price obtainable for the product should be
sufficient to render the conversion of the waste to this useful purpose
attractive after paying all outgoings. At the time the practice was
brought into operation the cost of reducing the sawdust to saw-pulp
of the desired character was from £5 to £6--$25 to $30--per ton. It
is estimated that the saw-pulp maker would be equitably rewarded with
£8--$40--per ton for the finished material ready for transport to the
mill. On this basis a grinding mill, working to full capacity through
the 44 hours’ working week, should be able to show a gross profit of
£21--$105--which should leave an adequate margin of net profit to
encourage such exploitation of the waste. The expansion of this young
industry, however, depends entirely upon the conditions which will
obtain upon the restoration of normal trading. It is a moot point
whether the Scandinavian pulp-makers will ever be able to revert to
pre-war quotations for their product, owing to the increasing costs
of production, and this fact should render the outlook distinctly
promising for the home producers, more especially if the sawmill
trade be destined to undergo a decided revival. Every ton of saw-pulp
produced from the waste will prove beneficial to the nation, for the
simple reason that it will enable us to reduce our purchases from
foreign sources of pulp by a corresponding amount.

While saw-pulp can only be regarded as a contribution to the
paper-making problem, there happens to be another waste product
suitable for this purpose, one which is available in much larger
quantities, and the supply of which would seem to be increasing rather
than decreasing. I refer to straw. Hitherto we have sadly neglected the
many possibilities offered in this connection, having preferred to turn
our by-product of the grain fields to other applications and to import
vast quantities of strawboard for the manufacture of boxes, containers,
and what not. Other countries have been more industrious and
enterprising than we, but what they have achieved is equally feasible
in these islands. To bring home the magnitude of this industry it is
only necessary to relate that our annual pre-war imports of strawboard
from Holland reached 250,000 tons.

There is no reason why such a lamentable state of affairs should
continue. Straw is not only useful for the production of strawboard,
but it constitutes an excellent material for the manufacture of paper.
Its yield efficiency, while lower than that of esparto grass, being
only 33·3 per cent., is sufficiently high to render its exploitation
in this direction highly promising, especially as the material can be
obtained in huge quantities.

At the present moment our supplies of straw for civilian needs may
rule low and prices may be high. But this is due to the heavy military
demands. Once the latter retire from the market and leave the article
to take care of itself, a marked drop in price may be confidently
anticipated, particularly if our new agricultural policy be maintained.
So long as it pays the farmer to grow corn he will continue to do so,
and the more acres he brings under this indispensable commodity the
greater will be the quantity of the by-product thrown upon the market.
It is anticipated that, when things settle down, from 2,000,000 to
3,000,000 tons of straw in excess of civilian needs will be available,
and the only possible outlet then for this waste from our grain-fields
will be the paper-mill. The utilization of the straw in this direction
will be influenced by charges for fuel and labour, while, of course,
the price of the imported pulp will affect any decision which may be
contemplated in regard to the exploitation of our home resources. But
assuming that the Scandinavian pulp will be dearer as a result of
enhanced production charges, and assuming that dumping tactics just
to hold the market will be frustrated, it is quite possible that we
shall find it cheaper to depend upon our own exertions with domestic
materials. If the quantity of straw which I have mentioned should
become available and be absorbed for this purpose, it will be adequate
to furnish from 670,000 to 1,000,000 tons of paper.

The straw, borne directly from the land, is relatively cheap. The
cost, delivered to the mill, even during the war was only about £4
10s.--$22.50--per ton. This figure is likely to fall. It produces
an excellent paper, but it is essential that it should be chopped
very finely preparatory to treatment, after which it is boiled with
chemicals and finally bleached. The yield efficiency being 33·3 per
cent. it follows that three tons of straw are required to produce one
ton of paper.

But the straw is not only required for the production of paper; it
is equally necessary for the manufacture of strawboard. Under war
conditions an appreciable quantity of the reclaimed paper was being
repulped to furnish cardboard and paper-board for packing purposes
to make good the shortage prevailing in regard to the Dutch product.
But the waste-paper is more useful for paper-making. Accordingly it
is being switched over to this duty. It was merely utilized otherwise
during the war because it was so urgently required, the national
consumption running into approximately 100,000 tons annually. Efforts
are being made to establish the strawboard industry in these islands.
The Dutch method has been adopted, and there are hopes that the output
will be speedily raised to 50,000 tons a year. While this falls far
short of the actual imports it represents a bold commencement to
emancipate us from the necessity to pay tribute to the foreigner to the
extent of nearly £1,000,000--$5,000,000--per year for an article which
we might just as well produce at home.

Why do we not undertake the manufacture of wood-pulp in this country?
This is an obvious question. But so far as these islands are concerned
the absence of supplies of raw material in the form of forests has been
responsible for the British abandonment of this range of activity.
Anterior to the outbreak of war there were three mills in this country
possessing integral facilities for pulping wood by the sulphite
process, but it was unremunerative owing to the insufficient supplies
of suitable indigenous timber. Two mills permitted their sulphite
plant to fall into disuse and in course of time dismantled them. The
third mill maintained operations, though under difficulties, while its
contribution was small in comparison with that of Scandinavia, its
capacity being only 6,000 tons a year.

The enormous accumulations of wood-slats arising from the exploitation
of our forests to meet military requirements turned native thought
towards the resuscitation of the chemical system of pulping. A scheme
was promulgated for the erection of a plant in Scotland to work upon
the _sulphate_ process, the proposed site for the plant happening to
be in close proximity to one of the largest ephemeral logging camps.
By the sulphate system the wood is reduced to a pulp by boiling in
a solution of caustic soda, and for this reason is often known as
soda pulp to distinguish it from the sulphite pulp. It requires three
tons of wood chips to yield one ton of pulp, which incidentally I may
mention is one of the strongest pulps known to the paper-making craft.
At the time the problem was discussed this pulp commanded £40--$200--a
ton, and so manufacture was considered to offer an alluring prospect
for British enterprise. The only defect in this pulp is that it is
difficult to bleach, and therefore can be used only sparingly in the
production of white paper. It is used principally in the manufacture
of strong brown papers, such as “thin kraft,” the brown paper used for
fruit and other bags, or for packing-paper where colour is of minor
importance.

Henceforth “kraft” will be in heavy demand for quite a new range of
activity. This is the production of paper textiles in which British
inventiveness has far out-distanced the German achievements in this
field. At the moment the British company specializing in these textiles
is being called upon to pay £40--$200--per ton for its raw material
drawn from Scandinavia, so that any fall in price which was anticipated
as a result of the cessation of hostilities, which would be likely
to undercut British production, has failed to materialize so far. It
may also be mentioned that British enterprise is quite ready to bring
over illimitable quantities of soft woods from the forests of Eastern
Canada in the log condition, and at a rate which is far cheaper than
that which has hitherto prevailed. This is due to a complete revolution
which has been wrought in the water movement of lumber, and it will
not only enable the requisite material to be acquired at a figure
severely competitive, but allow much of the waste lumber in Canada, at
present being ignored, to be submitted to commercial service.

But the exploitation of the foregoing materials by no means exhausts
our possibilities in this field. There are other substances, of a
refuse character, possessing undoubted virtues for paper-making. Among
these may be mentioned potato haulm. There is every indication that
our output of the potato will record a decided increase owing to the
development of industrial science in other fields. Consequently it is
only logical to expect increased accumulations of the bine. At the
present moment the vegetation in question is regarded more or less
as useless. It should be turned back into the ground to assist in
feeding the soil, but many farmers are disinclined to follow such a
practice for the reason that the bine is apt to foul the plough, and
thus delay the ground-breaking task. Its fertilizer content, or rather
the phosphoric acid and potash constituents, are generally reclaimed
by burning the bine and turning in the ash, but this process is to be
deprecated inasmuch as the whole of the valuable nitrogen content is
lost.

The haulm, owing to the nature of its fibres, is held to be an
excellent material for the production of brown paper where strength is
the essential requirement. So a British inventor devised what may be
described as a kind of decorticating machine to rend the tough fibre
to pieces upon the spot. The machine is simple, free from liability
to easy derangement, and ingenious. It is suggested that it should
be acquired by the farmer to permit the treatment of this waste as
recovered during the lifting season. It is held to make especial
appeal to the agriculturist possessing a motor-tractor, the requisite
energy being drawn therefrom through belt and pulley. It is estimated
that the manufacture of the machine, upon a sufficiently large scale,
will enable it to be sold at about £100--$500. The shredded stalk or
fibre should be able to command from £4 10s. to £5 10s.--$22.50 to
$27.50--per ton at the mill and should appeal to the paper-maker owing
to its high yield efficiency, which is in the neighbourhood of 65 per
cent. Of course, the suggestion that this waste should be recovered for
the production of paper is one that can only be entertained by the
large grower, but it is computed that at least 1,000 machines would be
necessary to cope with the country’s annual output of this refuse.

Another waste product which has also been subjected to test, and found
promising, is the husk from the oat which accrues from milling. The
useless offal resulting from grinding this grain is approximately
35 per cent. In its general characteristics the oat-husk closely
resembles sawdust, while its preparation for paper-making entails a
broadly identical process--passage through a grinding mill to reduce
the residue to the desired consistency. Investigations proved the
suitability of this husk-pulp as an ingredient for making certain
low-grade papers, such as are used by grocers, and for the very
cheapest literature. Paper so made is composed of oat-husks, 35 per
cent.; waste-paper, 50 per cent.; imported pulp, 15 per cent. But the
most gratifying feature of such paper is that it can be made from
domestic raw materials--waste--to the extent of 85 per cent.

It is evident, from what I have related, that the paper situation
need never occasion us any undue alarm. We have abundant materials
available in the form of waste which we might exploit to our material
and financial profit. War, with its concomitant evils, has turned the
world upside down. What we could not exploit previously to advantage,
owing to severely competitive prices, is now rendered feasible. It only
remains for us to submit the results of proved experiments to actual
commercial practice.



CHAPTER IX

SUPPLYING INDUSTRIES FROM THE DUST-BIN


During the past few years no effort has been spared to improve the
health and well-being of the community. Laws innumerable have been
passed compelling the mitigation of nuisances and the removal of
menaces to hygiene. These efforts are laudable, but, while they have
achieved the desired end, they have been directly responsible for many
other shortcomings. The greatest of these is waste, more especially in
so far as it affects the household.

Probably no other factor has contributed so materially towards the
factor of heavier domestic prodigality than the provision of the
portable dust-bin, and the introduction of systematic and regular
collection of the flotsam and jetsam contributed thereto. The very
convenience which the dust-bin or ash-barrel represents has served
to accentuate household extravagance. “Throw it in the dust-bin!” is
the popular slogan in domestic circles. Consequently this receptacle
has become the harbour for much domestic refuse which, under previous
conditions, would never have been so summarily discarded.

This disposition to be wasteful might have been checked, or at least
the errors of the domestic circle might have been rectified very
considerably, but for one disturbing element. We became such devout
worshippers of hygiene as to become insensible to all reasoning. A few
years ago the practice was to discharge the contents of the ash-barrel
upon open waste land. A small army of workers, even the nomadic element
of the community, turned to and raked over the spoil from our homes
very diligently. In this way immense quantities of odds and ends in
infinite variety which otherwise would have been lost found a market as
raw materials for many industries. Even the ultimate organic residue
fulfilled a mission of utility and one in consonance with the laws of
Nature, because, in the process of decomposition, the nitrogen and
phosphoric acid contents of the dump suffered release to feed the soil
to raise sustenance for man and beast.

But ransacking the garbage heap was declared to be a degrading and
health-menacing occupation and practice. Indeed, the whole system of
household refuse disposal was held up to obloquy. Reform was achieved
by the energetic advocacy of another means wherewith to cope with such
waste. It received widespread support because it fully coincided with
all the requirements of hygiene, while, furthermore, it was simple,
expeditious, effective and apparently cheap.

This was destruction by fire along so-called scientific lines. The new
idea arrested public fancy mainly for the reason that its champions
laid emphasis upon the fact that it presented the possibility of
obtaining energy to generate electric light and power and to drive
tramways for nothing. Municipalities became affected with the
incineration fever. Steam was necessary to drive the electric plant
which had been acquired. Why not cut down the coal-bill by making use
of the fuel properties possessed by household refuse? The contents
of the domestic dust-bin are so varied, ranging from waste-paper,
grease-laden bones, fragments of fat, cinders, rags and vegetable odds
and ends as to present, in the aggregate, a readily combustible mass
possessing distinct calorific value. By utilizing the garbage, which
has to be collected, in this manner, the coal-bill might be reduced by
so much.

So argued the advocates of the new idea, and their reasonings proved
so specious as to gain the day. The prospect of being able to get
“Something for nothing” was so alluring as to silence effectively all
adverse criticism. Of course, it was futile to gainsay that cremation
could be rivalled as a prompt, simple, and completely sanitary means of
coping with the refuse which accumulates in every city and big town.
Forthwith destruction by fire became the widely-accepted means of
getting rid of the unsightly and unsavoury contents of the dust-bin.

Yet the coming of the dust-destructor proved to be a distinctly
retrograde step in the science of economics. It contributed to
increased improvidence in the home, because the ash-barrel became the
receptacle for a still wider assortment of organic material than ever
before, and in greater bulk.

It must be conceded that not all of the garbage which suffered
this fate was destroyed to futility. A certain volume of steam was
certainly raised wherewith to drive the electric generators, but the
amount of energy obtained in this way was out of all proportion to
the quantity and value of the material incinerated. In certain cases
the destructor was not harnessed to the power station. The ratepayers
have not experienced any sensible relief in regard to the fuel bills.
Even incineration of household refuse, despite the proportion of its
combustible contents, cannot be conducted satisfactorily without the
consumption of a certain volume of coal. And the process precipitates
a certain quantity of further refuse, in the form of clinker and ash,
the economic disposal of which has provoked another and even more
perplexing problem.

When necessity, which knows no law, compelled us to economize in every
direction, and particularly in connection with food, we found it
expedient to turn round to ascertain whether or not we might be able
to effect tangible savings to minimize the disconcerting influences of
stringency. The domestic dust-bin was the first factor in the domestic
circle to undergo sensational overhaul. Material which had hitherto
been consigned to this dead end only too freely and perfunctorily, was
more closely scrutinized to see if it could not be induced to yield
further useful service before suffering complete abandonment by the
housewife. Contemporaneously with this manifestation of individual
private effort the civic and municipal authorities were compelled to
display unwonted activity. The whole problem of refuse disposal had to
be viewed from quite a new angle.

Upon investigating the issue of household refuse at close quarters, and
under the microscope of concentrated interest, the country’s wastage
in this direction was found to exceed the wildest speculations of the
critics. For the first time illuminating statistics became available.
According to the National Salvage Council, the official department
created to stimulate the public mind in matters pertaining to this
question, the quantity of refuse “made” by householders throughout the
country during the year may be set down at 9,450,000 tons.

At first sight this figure seems so startling as to be received with
incredulity, but analysis suffices to demonstrate that it does not
err upon the side of exaggeration. Rather is it conservative. It is
based upon an allowance of 1,680 lb. a day for each 1,000 members of
the total population during 300 days of the year. An allowance of 1·68
lb. per head per day wastage cannot be construed as excessive. How
many households of six persons can show a weekly dust-bin collection
weighing less than 60 lb. especially when the extremely varied contents
of the receptacle are born in mind?

Now, of what is the heterogeneous collection of the dust-bin composed,
and what is the proportion of each to the aggregate? The following
table, based upon the data collected by the official department already
mentioned, shows--

         Material.         |  Average  |Total per |  Estimated Value.
                           |Percentage.|  Year.   |
 --------------------------|-----------|----------|---------------------
                           |           |   Tons.  |      £   |     $
 Fine dust                 |   50·98   | 4,800,000|   240,000| 1,200,000
 Cinders                   |   39·63   | 3,700,000| 1,850,000| 9,250,000
 Bricks, pots, shales, etc.|    5·35   |   500,000|    25,000|   125,000
 Tins                      |    0·98   |    90,000|   360,000| 1,800,000
 Rags                      |    0·40   |    37,000|   555,000| 2,775,000
 Glass                     |    0·61   |    50,000|   100,000|   500,000
 Bones                     |    0·05   |     4,000|     --   |     --
 Vegetable matter          |    0·72   |    68,000|     --   |     --
 Scrap iron                |    0·06   |     5,000|    15,000|    75,000
 Shells (oyster, etc.)     |    0·08   |     7,000|     --   |     --
 Paper                     |    0·62   |    58,000|   400,000| 2,000,000

From these figures it is evident that the dust-bin is a
veritable treasure ground. Of course the values are subject
to market fluctuations, but it is apparent that a round
£3,000,000--$15,000,000--more or less, a year, is being allowed to fly
up the chimney to vanish in smoke and gases, and to extend very meagre
return for its combustion.

Let us consider the despised homely cinders as an illustration of how
we permit wicked waste to reign in the household circle. According
to the table they represent approximately two-fifths of the total
contents of the dust-bin, and make up the respectable aggregate of
3,700,000 tons a year for the whole country. As a straight fuel the
cinder is but slightly inferior to coal. When washed its calorific
value is about 10,000 British Thermal Units. Good steam coal only
averages 14,000 British Thermal Units. Accordingly the spurned cinder,
from the heat-raising point of view, is worth about five-sevenths of
coal drawn fresh from the mines. The householders of Britain have been
content to throw away 37,000,000,000 British Thermal Units every year
in ignorance. Translated into terms of coal this is equivalent to
2,642,857 tons. In other words we have wasted what is tantamount to
two-and-a-half millions of high-grade coal every year, and have spent
money on fuel which we might just as well have kept in our pockets or
have turned to other beneficial purposes. Obviously, if every house
undertook to turn its cinders to full account, the domestic call
upon the mines might be materially reduced, while there would be an
appreciable contribution to the conservation of our coal resources from
such a practice.

Paper is another commodity which, in the past, we have handled along
woefully improvident lines, as related in the previous chapter. We
have not even taken the trouble to burn it, but have permitted it
to drift and flutter hither and thither to find a final repository,
grievously soiled and dirty, in the dust-bin. But even when so marred
and deteriorated it was worth, during the war period, no less than
£7--$35--a ton!

The wastage of rags, both cotton and woollen, has been even more
deplorable. In this instance, however, possibly a reasonable excuse
for the prompt consignment of such material to the dust-bin and the
dust-destructor can be advanced. Popular opinion regards textile odds
and ends as an ideal vehicle for the transmission of the germs of
disease. Yet such does not justify the indiscriminate committal of
material worth £15--$75--per ton to incineration. Infected rags should
be burned forthwith in the household fire. But are they? Investigation
would probably reveal the disconcerting fact that they are thrown into
the dust-bin, as offering the most convenient means of disposal. Even
if they should be above suspicion when discarded, the chances are
that they become contaminated in the ash-barrel. Consequently upon
recovery such materials should be subjected to preliminary inexpensive
sterilization to ensure the public safety.

When the necessity to practise household salvage upon a comprehensive
scale became imperative, a few discreet inquiries were made to secure
reliable statistics as to what wealth is ignored or thrown away by the
community of these islands. The results were somewhat surprising.

In Sheffield, a city of some 500,000 persons, 56,000 jam-jars were
recovered in one week through a special collection conducted by school
children. They realized 6 shillings--$1.50--a gross, and so brought
in £120--$600. In Leicester the practice is, or was, to dispose of
certain articles to the local marine store dealers after collection,
and to divide the profit arising from the transaction among the
employees engaged in the refuse-gathering task. One quarter’s waste,
exclusive of old tins and waste-paper, netted £343--$1,715--of which
£249--$1,245--was obtained from rags alone. There were 264 dozen
jam-jars collected. They cost 15s.--$3.75--a gross new, and the trade
expressed its readiness to take over the reclaimed vessels at 7s.
6d.--$1.87--a gross. Kensington made £1,000--$5,000--from the sale
of one year’s collection of waste-paper. The Southport authorities
recovered £2,000--$10,000--over a similar transaction. The metropolitan
boroughs of Finsbury and Marylebone each swelled its local treasury
to the extent of £500--$2,500--in a similar manner. The City of
London garners 30 tons of this commodity every week. The ink-bottles
recovered from the garbage barrels of the metropolis would provide a
person with a comfortable income, averaging as they do several gross
a day. Liverpool derives £300--$1,500--from house-swill alone, which
it collects, dries, and turns into poultry-meal to sell at £15--$75--a
ton. Aberdeen, as the result of one day’s organized collection, secured
sufficient bottles to realize £567--$2,835.

It is obvious that, no matter from what point of view the question is
regarded, systematic organized salvage of the contents of the household
dust-bin can be rendered a highly profitable enterprise. Certainly
it opens up a promisingly rich and legitimate field for municipal
trading, though it is equally accessible to private initiative. It is
only requisite to survey the whole situation of the disposal of house
garbage from the new angle of scientific application. It is not refuse
in the generally accepted interpretation of the term. Such material
should rightly be regarded as by-products of the private domestic
kitchen.

The tardy recognition of this fact is responsible for a curious
reversion in practice. The open-air sifting of house refuse for the
recovery of substances possessed of commercial value was unequivocably
condemned from health motives, as previously mentioned. Yet, in
order to recover these articles, some system of selection and
hand manipulation are inevitable, notwithstanding the high degree
of intellectuality to which machinery has been advanced. But the
old system of hand-picking was primitive in its simplicity. The
circumstance that household refuse, both organic and inorganic,
possesses virtues which the vogue of the destructor caused to be
blindly ignored, has been responsible for a manifestation of marked
ingenuity upon the part of the engineering profession. The necessity
to recover every ounce of material possessing a market value was never
so acute as it is to-day. Supplies are short and are likely to remain
inadequate for some time to come, while the high level of prices is
apt to compel more rigid economy. Yet the strains encountered in this
direction may be very sensibly lessened by the practice of salvage
along more intensive lines.

It would seem as if refuse recovery were destined to develop into
a highly specialized branch of the engineering craft. Hitherto
for the most part the engineer has confined his efforts towards
garbage-disposal by destruction, but the new tendency is far more
logical and deserving of every encouragement. Certainly it is a field
in which abundant scope is offered for brilliancy and ingenuity of
thought. This is demonstrated by the activity of certain firms, more
particularly of one in the North of England, the guiding hand of the
destinies of which has evolved a complete recovery plant, having many
decidedly ingenious features, and which is already being installed by
certain of our more progressive corporations and municipal authorities.

This plant is self-contained, and, so far as is feasible, is
automatically operated. While hand-picking cannot be entirely
eliminated it has been reduced to the minimum. The system adopted
facilitates the task, and renders hand-picking as congenial as the
peculiar conditions will permit. Furthermore it is an individual
entity. While it can be established in an isolated centre it can also
be coupled up to the existing dust-destructor, or power-generating
station if preferred, thereby complying with the general desire to
centralize municipally-controlled installations. This is certainly a
powerful recommendation, because it avoids superfluous transport and
handling.

Under this scheme the refuse-collecting vehicles discharge their loads
into a receiving hopper from which the material falls by gravitation
into a hexagonally-shaped revolving riddle. This screen or reel for
two-thirds of its length is perforated to allow the fine ash associated
with the waste to escape into another large hopper placed immediately
beneath. The ash may then either be withdrawn directly from this hopper
into wagons or carts for removal, or should arrangements be made for
its combination with other ingredients to produce a fertilizing agent,
it may be led by conveyor from the hopper to the compounding-room.

For the remaining third of its length the hexagonal revolving screen
is perforated with a coarser mesh to permit the cinders to escape
into a separate hopper, at the base of which is a worm conveyor which
receives the cinders and bears them to a washer. The washing operation
is introduced to allow the separation of the light or combustible
fuel--cinders--from the heavier clinker, fragments of glass, pottery,
and other incombustible substances. At the same time all fine dust
clogging the interstices or pores of the cinders is removed, thereby
facilitating the subsequent combustion of the cinder, while, of course,
the heat produced from the cleansed fuel is greater than that derived
from such material loaded with incombustible dust.

After being washed the cinders are picked up by a scraper elevator. If
it be intended to utilize this fuel for raising steam in the adjacent
power plant it can be carried by conveyor direct to the boiler-room,
to be discharged into the bunkers or furnaces. Should it be decided
to dispose of the cinders, either wholly or in part, to the general
public, they may be taken by the transporter to any suitable point to
be stored against sale in bulk or in bags.

A second scraper elevator gathers the heavier debris separated from
the combustible fuel in the washer, and carries it to a pulverizer,
to which it is delivered through a chute. If the fine dust associated
with the raw refuse, and which fell through the receiving screen, be
not delivered from its hopper into vehicles for immediate disposal, it
may be led to this point to be stored in the pit receiving the material
from the pulverizer with which it may be mixed. Of course, the dust is
not passed through the grinding plant.

The elimination of the dust and coarser material from the crude garbage
in the receiving screen leaves an appreciable quantity of organic
and inorganic matter, comprising such divers substances as paper,
fragments of wood, bottles, jars, bones, tins, and vegetable material
to be handled. As these cannot pass through the perforations in the
sifting screen they are delivered on to a broad endless conveyor-belt
travelling between two platforms. This is the “picking belt,” from the
fact that as the material is borne along between the two platforms
the useful material is removed by the hands of pickers, to be cast
into suitably disposed bins. In this manner the process of segregation
is carried out with the minimum of effort, while the material is in
movement, and under the most congenial conditions the character of the
work will permit. It represents the only stage at which recourse to
manual labour is required, so that it will be seen that hand-selection
is reduced to the absolute minimum.

The waste-paper is not touched by hand. At a suitable point a specially
designed hood, connected to an exhauster, is mounted over the picking
belt. When this is set in motion the induced draught is sufficiently
powerful to suck up the paper, and to bear it through a special conduit
to be discharged into a convenient receptacle, whence it may be removed
to the baling press.

This plant, known as the Hoyle refuse-recovery installation, after
its inventor and designer, Mr. H. P. Hoyle, is extremely efficient.
Simplicity is the outstanding feature, while its operation is
economical and requires only the minimum of labour. So far as power
is concerned a single 10 horse-power electric motor suffices for all
operations. The capital cost has also been kept down, the price of
the complete plant being from £1,500 to £2,000--$7,500 to $10,000.
At this figure the installation of the system should prove distinctly
profitable, more especially in conjunction with one or two auxiliary
appliances which offer the means to enhance the market value of the
recovered materials, although they are not essential. For instance,
an appreciable proportion of the tins thrown into the dust-bin are in
a bright condition and free from rust. Such tins can be made to yield
so much crude tin plate for the production of further tins, instead of
being subjected to the less economic process of crushing, baling, and
detinning or transference to the furnaces in billet form to be melted
down.

A special type of machine has been evolved whereby the tops and bottoms
of the bright recovered tins can be cut off. The resultant cylinder is
then cut through on either side of the original seam, and the sheet
pressed out to form a flat plate. The eliminated joint, of course, is
set on one side to be treated for the recovery of the solder, while the
small pieces of tin find their way to the scrap-metal bin. The sheets
of bright tin which are thus recovered, and which are quite equal to
new tin-plate, command a ready sale, because they can be restamped into
smaller flat tins for packing boot polishes and similar commodities
extensively retailed in this form. The process is simple, rapid, and
can be made profitable.

Rusted tins require to be treated in a different manner. Some
corporations merely crush them flat to facilitate and to cheapen
transport, selling them in bulk to firms who specialize in the handling
of such product. However, it is a matter for investigation, when such
tins are recoverable from the garbage in appreciable quantities, as to
whether it would not prove more remunerative to the local authorities
to deal with the tins themselves. A furnace is required to burn off the
tin-dirt and to recover the solder. The tin itself, representing about
1 per cent., is lost, although there are processes in operation for its
reclamation. The receptacles may then be crushed and baled into billets
for which an hydraulic press is necessary. A plant capable of making
a bale measuring 24 × 14 × 6 inches is well-adapted to this duty. The
solder is in demand, while the plate is worth from £3--$15--upwards
per ton as scrap metal. At this figure the local authorities would
undoubtedly find it far more profitable to incur the extra expense and
labour involved to prepare the billets rather than to dispose of the
tins in their crude form. When the quantity is heavy direct sale to
the steel-works is possible and the middleman’s profit diverted to the
benefit of the ratepayers.

Paper should also be baled for reasons of transport. Either hand or
power appliances may be used, but unless the quantity likely to be
handled is pronounced, the hand-operated machine will be found adequate
for the task. Of course, it must be admitted that, to-day, prices for
the recovered materials rule somewhat high. Consequently it may be
averred by critics that, whereas such auxiliaries might be perfectly
justifiable under conditions such as now prevail, they would fail to
show an equally satisfactory result in normal circumstances.

But it must not be forgotten that prices are steadily rising all round.
Accepted raw materials are costing more, labour is more expensive,
and the tendency in both directions is still in the ascendant. But
even should prices and costs droop, it must not be forgotten that
such a movement would be attended by the utilization of greater
quantities of the articles concerned. They would be recoverable from
the garbage in greater volume, and then it would be possible to keep
the plants running to their full capacities for no heavier operative or
overhead costs. Consequently, in the long run the disposal of enhanced
quantities of tins, either as “bright” or scrap, at a lower figure,
would probably prove more profitable in the aggregate than treating a
limited supply, such as obtains under stringent economic conditions, at
a high figure.

How does a recovery plant of the foregoing description work out in
practice? This is the vital question. Upon this point it is possible
to advance some interesting figures. An investigation of the domestic
refuse problem as it affects the country as a whole has revealed
the circumstance of the contents of the dust-bin being tolerably
consistent, whether it be drawn from a residential or manufacturing
town, from the East-end or from the West-end, from the city or from
the suburb. On the basis of the analysis set forth elsewhere in this
chapter, and taking for our illustration a metropolitan suburb having a
population of 85,000 souls contributing 100 tons of refuse a day, the
possible recovery of by-products comes out as follows:--

  --------------------------+--------+---------------+-----------------
          Material.         |Tons per| Price per Ton.|  Total Value.
                            |  Day.  |               |
  --------------------------+--------+--------+------+--------+--------
  Fertilizer prepared from  |        | £ s. d.|  $   | £ s. d.|    $
    fine dust and pulverized|        |        |      |        |
    debris from             |        |        |      |        |
    washer and picking      |        |        |      |        |
    belt                    |   65   | 0  1  0|  0.25|  3  5 0|   16.25
  Cinders                   |   25   | 0 10  0|  2.50| 12 10 0|   62.50
  Tins and metal            |    2   | 4  0  0| 20.00|  8  0 0|   40.00
  Paper (unsorted, dirty)   |    1   | 7  0  0| 35.00|  7  0 0|   35.00
  Rags                      |    0·5 |15  0  0| 75.00|  7 10 0|   37.50
  Glass                     |    0·5 | 2  0  0| 10.00|  1  0 0|    5.00
  --------------------------+--------+--------+------+--------+--------
          Gross total per day                        |£39  5 0| $196.25
  ---------------------------------------------------+--------+--------

The foregoing figures may be accepted as moderate. Thus the cinders,
with a heating value equal to five-sevenths of that of good steam coal,
are priced at 10s.--$2.50--per ton. But, as experience has proved,
they readily command 14s.--$3.50--per ton, providing, in their washed
condition, a first-class, clean, cheap and economical fuel for the
poorer classes of the community. At 10s.--$2.50--per ton they are equal
to coal costing 14s.--$3.50--per ton, at which price such fuel is
absolutely impossible to-day. Even coke cannot be purchased at double
the figure. In other words, by buying washed cinders at the prices
quoted the purchaser is receiving a fuel equal, if not superior, to
contemporary household coal costing 35s. to 50s.--$7 to $10--per ton.

Again, the tins are assessed at a low scrap-metal value. Probably 50
per cent. of the tins rescued from the dust-bin to-day coincide with
the term “bright,” and thus would pay to turn into tin-plate. The
quotation for this material ignores the value of the solder, as well
as that ruling for other metals, such as brass and copper, and of
which far more is recovered from the ash-barrel than may be popularly
imagined. The figure given, moreover, represents the official price,
but since the removal of control scrap-metal has recorded higher
quotations. So far as the other materials are concerned the prices may
be taken as representative.

On the above showing of £39 5s.--$196.25--per day the plant gives a
gross return, in round figures, of £235--$1,175--for a six-day week,
or £11,775--$58,875--for a 300-day year. Allowing £5,000--$25,000--a
liberal figure--for the annual operation of the plant, the sum of
£6,775--$33,875--remains--the net return from the realization of some
of the utilitarian material recovered from the dust-bins into which
85,000 people throw what they consider to be useless during the course
of the year. Truly may it be said that the average member of the
public has but little, if any, idea of the wealth he allows to slip
through his hands as a result of carelessness or lack of knowledge.
Again, when it is reflected that, for the most part, the whole of such
potential wealth as this has been permitted to vanish in smoke, or if
incombustible to be kicked from pillar to post, we certainly cannot
complain when accused of deplorable extravagance.

So far as the capital expenditure of a plant, such as is set forth
above, is concerned, this may be set down at £1,000 to £1,500--$5,000
to $7,500. If for such a paltry expenditure a net revenue of
£6,775--$33,875--can be secured during the course of the year, surely
the moment has arrived when we ought to put our civic and municipal
houses in order. Granting that prices to-day are abnormal, and reducing
the net return by 50 per cent., even at £3,387--$16,935--per annum,
which may be taken as a safe assumption, a plant of this description is
able to pay its way within a short time after its installation, after
making even the most liberal allowances for capital charges, interest,
and depreciation.

The Hoyle system is one which should make a powerful appeal to the
small communities, which, at the moment, are deficient in any system of
garbage disposal other than open dumping. It has the governing virtue
of being extremely flexible, being as readily applicable to the small
town, numbering only a few thousand--even hundreds--of inhabitants as
to the teeming city of a million or more souls. The financial outlay
involved is comparatively trivial for the results achieved, and varies
according to the size, capacity, and completeness of the plant.

Should our smaller towns embrace the system the contributions to
the searching problems of the moment would, in the aggregate, be
decidedly startling. The materials thus recovered, turned into the
proper channels, would go a long way towards relieving the strains
which are being experienced. The small town has a golden opportunity
to demonstrate to the larger communities how things should be done.
For the most part it is not saddled with a costly, so-called hygienic,
destructor. The science of turning the contents of the dust-bin to
commercial advantage is one offering possibilities too numerous to
mention and might even lead to the establishment of local industries.
Nothing organic or inorganic possessed of any utilitarian value need be
lost.

On the other hand the city is not in such a fortunate position.
It will have to forget a good deal of what it has assimilated in
connection with the disposal of the contents of the ash-barrel. A
change-over from the old to the new method must inevitably occupy time,
especially as those two dragging chains which always retard the march
of progress--prejudice and conservatism--have first to be released.
Nevertheless, as destruction of domestic waste by fire superseded
dumping upon open land, so must incineration, in turn, give way to the
latest demands of science and the immutable economic law. The dust
destructor never could possibly be construed into a scientific solution
of the problem: it has no constructional or creative value, except of
a nuisance in the form of accumulations of clinker. Even primitive
dumping upon the land did possess the distinct advantage of benefiting
the soil over which it was distributed. When the latest idea for
recovering and exploiting the by-products of the dust-bin achieves the
vogue which it deserves, land and industry will profit to the benefit
of the community and of the country.

Naturally, certain local authorities, notoriously opposed to
progressive development, will seek to stop the tide by belittling the
new policy. They have become so firmly wedded to the destructor in
which so much of the ratepayers’ money has been sunk as to be blind
to improvement. They will continue still to waste money in supporting
their fetish, strenuously declining to honour the axiom that it is
often cheaper to cut the loss.

In the absence of willingness to jettison the old and to adopt the new,
the pressure of compulsion should be applied. Local authorities must
be prevented from continuing to squander potential resources of raw
material. Alternatively, the exploitation of the despised dust-bin
should be brought within the reach of private enterprise, which should
be extended every encouragement. Other nations have always regarded our
much-vaunted dust destructor as the high-road to waste. It has never
found any pronounced favour beyond the confines of Britain. Have our
rivals been wiser than we?

An interesting commentary upon this somewhat inexplicable
predisposition to destruction by fire is offered by the experience of
the city of San Francisco. In 1896 the city granted a fifty years’
franchise for the provision of a destructor for the disposal of
household refuse to a private party. “This destructor,” remarks the
city engineer in a communication to myself, “is the second, and last,
example of the Thackery furnace and arrangement, the first having been
built in Montreal, Canada, the previous year (1895).”

This plant has passed through somewhat strange vicissitudes. In 1910
it was purchased, together with the franchise, by the city authorities
for £70,000--$350,000. It was then leased to a private party, under
privilege, in return for an annual payment of £3,700--$18,500--5 per
cent. upon the purchase price. During the early months of 1918, owing
to the great increase in wages and other costs of operation, the lessee
relinquished his lease, so that it was thrown back upon the hands of
the city authorities. It was then taken in hand by the Scavengers’
Association under permit from the city, by whom it is at present being
run at a cost of about 4s.--$1--a ton for the 375 to 380 tons of refuse
collected daily by the scavengers.

But the city authorities are not impressed with this method of
disposing of the contents of the ash-barrels of its citizens. “During
the past year or two,” continues the city engineer in the communication
already quoted, “we have become more than ever impressed with the
wrong of unnecessary waste and have been making special study of our
conditions and the means of improving them. Ordinances for segregation
at the source, and collection of all, both garbage and rubbish, are now
under action by the Board of Supervisors--the governing body of the
city--and specifications are being prepared and bids asked upon the
same for the collection and disposal of garbage and rubbish.

“It is specially provided that all proposals shall be based on a
recognition of the need of conservation and the recovery of all values
to the point of balance between profit and loss. It is expected that
the garbage from households will amount to upwards of 100 tons daily,
and that it will be attractive to hog-raisers.”



CHAPTER X

LIVING ON WASTE


War is Hell. So said Sherman, and it is a verdict with which the whole
world will agree. But war is also a powerful educating force. If
any convincing testimony upon this point were required we have only
to reflect upon the effective manner in which the recent European
conflagration caused the British nation to revise its methods and
practices. The stress of war, ravages by submarines, depletion of
transport facilities by sea, road, and rail, and the shortage of crops
and labour, compelled the community to consider the food question in a
light totally different from that with which it was regarded during the
days of cheapness and plenty. We were forced to digest lessons which
under normal conditions we would have ignored in contempt. Whether the
changes wrought in our complex social and commercial life are destined
to be permanent in character is another question, but the continuation
of high prices is tending to consummate this end, the process being
assisted by the reflection that the good old days are destined never to
return, at least not for many years to come.

In the previous chapter I have recounted how the engineer is now
striving to conserve rather than to destroy what we throw to one side
as of no further use. By inventive ingenuity he is endeavouring to
bring home to our local authorities how to extract further utilitarian
value from what the household discards. The question immediately arises
as to what extent this tendency towards preservation and construction,
as opposed to destruction and loss, is being supported in a practical
manner by the authorities concerned.

It is to be feared that, considered on the whole, the seeds which are
being sown are falling on barren ground. However, here and there our
civic and municipal authorities, especially those who evince a distinct
pride in being numbered among the pioneers of progress, are fully alive
to the possibilities of the problem, and are leaving no stone unturned,
nor sparing any exertion, to bring home to the public at large that
refuse is merely matter in the wrong place. In some instances this
reversion to rigid economical methods is not of modern record, the
practice of salvage or recovery of abandoned products having been
practised along more or less comprehensive lines, as indicated by
scientific thought, for many years past.

The city of Glasgow is able to point to a convincing record of what
can be achieved in this direction. In the years 1908-9 the fathers
of the progressive Scottish city derived £41,000--$205,000--from
this source, while during the ten years ending 1918 what is commonly
regarded as rubbish and useless has been induced to yield no less than
£50,300--$251,500. Surely what can be achieved in one city is equally
possible of attainment in every other community throughout the British
Isles to a greater or lesser degree!

Glasgow has evolved its own organization for retrieving and utilising
the city refuse and in accordance with the conditions which obtain in
the locality. Speaking generally, the system may be described as one
of separating the saleable from the unsaleable. Previous to the year
1917 efforts were devoted mainly to the preparation of fertiliser from
the contents of the domestic dust-bin, as well as the recovery of
tins, but, owing to the high prices which other so-called waste was
commanding, and in deference to the national appeal towards greater
economy, the reclamation of other materials was taken in hand with
highly gratifying results.

The refuse of the city is collected in the usual manner and conveyed
to the depot. It is weighed upon receipt. It is then dispatched up
an inclined roadway to a tipping floor, where the vehicles discharge
their loads through shoots. Beneath the latter are disposed horizontal
revolving riddles of conical form. The fine refuse and cinders escape
through the grids, but the bulky material is carried forward to be
ejected on to a travelling conveyor.

The ashes and cinders which fall through the open mesh of the first
riddles are caught by a second and stationary screen. The mesh of
this sieve being finer only allows the dust to escape to fall into
a mixing machine. Here it is combined with a regulated quantity of
excrementitious matter drawn from an overhead tank. The materials
are thoroughly blended, and the mixture ultimately falls direct into
railway wagons. In this way all intermediate handling is obviated. This
material constitutes a first-class fertilizing agent, is keenly sought
by farmers, and accordingly meets with a ready sale.

The cinders, arrested by the secondary stationary screen, are collected
in a similar manner. They are not sold, but dumped into the bunkers
of the works to fire the boilers, thereby assisting materially in the
generation of the power necessary to drive the plant.

The bulkier material remaining in the revolving conical grid is
discharged on to a conveyor. While being moved forward all material
of value, such as waste-paper, tins, scrap-metal, waste-food, rags,
bones, glass and so on are picked off by hand to be thrown into bins.
The manual labour employed to carry out this task of segregation may be
considered to be an adverse cost factor. But against this expenditure
for separation by hand must be set that formerly entailed in the
destruction or other disposal of this material. Accordingly, all things
considered, it may be accepted that the revenue derived from this
source virtually represents money saved.

In addition to the recovery of paper from the above-mentioned
refuse the Cleansing Department also maintains a special service
for the collection of such waste from offices, warehouses, and
private residences throughout the city area. This procedure has been
in operation for many years, but, owing to the scarcity of paper
encountered during the war, and the need which consequently arose
to display accentuated enterprise in this direction, an auxiliary
collecting service was inaugurated. It was conducted by the members of
the Women’s Volunteer Reserve, who received a percentage of the profits
arising from the sale of the waste-paper thus gathered.

So far as the waste-metal--light scrap, tins, and other odds and ends
of a metallic nature--is concerned this was formerly sold in the form
of detinned compressed billets. Under the present contract this is
delivered to the contractor in the condition in which it is received.
But it is quite possible that, at some future date, there may be a
reversion to the baling process which formerly obtained. In view of
this fact it has been deemed advisable to bale a certain proportion
of the recovered metal merely in order to maintain the hydraulic
compressing plant in good working conditions. The practice is to
separate and to classify metallic material under one or other of six
headings--bright tins, galvanized metal, light iron (black), cast iron,
enamelled ware, and burned tins respectively.

While the Cleansing Department hitherto has not devoted any attention
to the recovery of garbage from the refuse for conversion into
pig-food, it is possible that this issue may be undertaken at a future
date. The authorities have the suggestion under serious consideration
with a view to its adoption.

The clinker question commands the attention of the Glasgow authorities,
as it does all other communities equipped with facilities for carrying
out refuse destruction by incineration. But, so far as this city
is concerned, the problem does not bristle with perplexity as is
invariably the case. The residuum from the furnaces of the Corporation
works is mechanically screened into five varying grades, to meet the
requirements of contractors who find it eminently adapted to their
particular needs. No difficulty has yet been experienced in regard to
the disposal of this article, a ready sale always having prevailed for
the stocks available.

That the reclamation of the utilitarian contents of the domestic
dust-bin is distinctly remunerative to the Glasgow civic authorities is
reflected from a perusal of the revenue derived from the recovery and
disposal of the city’s refuse during the year ended May 31, 1918. The
sales’ record is as follows:--

  ---------------------------+---------------+---------
          Materials.         |    £    s. d. |    $
  ---------------------------+---------------+---------
  Waste-paper                |   8,993 14  5 |  44,969
  Old tins, light iron, etc. |   2,684 17  9 |  13,425
  Clinker                    |     718 10 10 |   3,592
  Sundries                   |      72 14  5 |     363
  ---------------------------+---------------+---------
      Total                  | £12,469 17  5 | $62,349
  ---------------------------+---------------+---------

To the above total there remains to be added the revenue derived
from the sale of the prepared manure, arising from the admixture of
the finely-screened dust and excremental material. This realized
£6,718 17s. 8d.--$33,594--bringing the grand total to £19,188 15s.
1d.--$95,943. In this return the cinders are totally ignored, but,
seeing that they constitute a highly serviceable fuel, the saving
in the coal-bill, which their use secured, should be taken into
consideration.

It is necessary to explain that, inasmuch as the thorough separation of
the material is only of recent date, previous operations having been
confined to the recovery of paper, old metal and the preparation of
the fertilizer as already mentioned, the item “Sundries” cannot extend
any criterion as to the results now being recorded, nor of the revenue
derived from the recovery and disposal of the additional articles.

The successful conversion of the volume of dust, comprising about 50
per cent. of the aggregate, into a marketable fertiliser, offers a
satisfactory solution of a complex and perplexing problem. But when the
dust is coarser and yet deficient in “bite” or gritty characteristic,
its disposal is not so readily consummated because its possible
applications are thereby severely narrowed down in number.

Speaking generally, the utilization of the fine dust may be said to
present a vexatious question. While it forms an excellent ingredient
for a compounded fertilizer, it is not a simple matter to discover an
inexpensive, and preferably second, refuse constituent of approved
manurial value with which to associate it. The majority of the
ingredients advocated as complying with the desired requirement possess
too high an independent fertilizing value for such an application.
In itself the dust is of very low soil-feeding power, and so active
investigation is being pursued in anticipation of the discovery of a
satisfactory adjustment to this question.

Another enterprising illustration of what can be achieved with
domestic, office and warehouse refuse, both organic and inorganic,
is extended by the Port of Liverpool. Here, again, the developments
to be recorded in this connection are not attributable to the war,
although the last-named factor was responsible for the conduct of the
reclamatory process upon a more intensive scale. Liverpool is somewhat
peculiarly situated among the importing centres of the United Kingdom
seeing that it is probably the largest distributing centre for American
foodstuffs for this country. Consequently, as is only to be expected,
very considerable quantities of food which have suffered such damage
during transit or demurrage as to become unfit for human consumption
have to be handled. Under the old _régime_ all organic waste of this
character was either consigned right away to the destructor, or was
perfunctorially treated to be sold as manure. Neither science nor
brains was displayed in its disposal. The shortest way out of the
difficulty was accepted as being the most effective in the public
interests. But Liverpool was not the only port to follow such summary
practice. It was common to all ports of the country in greater or
lesser degree. The public loses heavily from the observance of such
deprecatory measures, especially when it is borne in mind that such
traffic runs into tens of thousands of tons during the course of the
year. But under pre-war conditions, owing to the plentitude of supplies
and the wide distribution of the losses incurred, the financial effect
was scarcely felt by the unit of the population.

During the war a loud wail went up because a number of hams and a
quantity of bacon had been found in a decomposed condition at a certain
port. Had this occurred during pre-war days not a word would have found
its way into the public press, and the destructor alone would have
known of the incident. But because under war conditions the public
was directly affected--was clamouring for this particular article of
food--the wastage was declared to be intolerable. Fortunately, in this
instance, owing to our having become more enlightened, the spoiled food
was not totally lost. The fat was reclaimed, while the residue was
turned to its most profitable account.

At Liverpool, as at other centres where a vigilant eye is maintained
upon the clock of progress, it was speedily discovered that the methods
of handling such refuse were distinctly deprecatory. It was decided to
introduce improved practice. One material was treated as an experiment,
and the process was found to be profitable. Gradually other condemned
articles of food were taken in hand. This logical development of
salvage was continued, until to-day there is very little material
entering into the composition of the Liverpool dust-bin which does not
find some one or other useful application.

It was learned from studied investigation that waste-food products
collected with the refuse of the city might be classified into five
broad divisions, namely butchers’ and fishmongers’ offal, damaged fruit
and vegetables, damaged eggs, damaged canned foods, such as meat, fish,
milk and so forth, as well as warehouse sweepings. Over and above this
assortment, of course, came the miscellany to be found in every ash-bin
drawn from the home. To ensure the receipt of the offal from tradesmen
a special and separate collection from all retail shops dealing in fish
and greengrocery was inaugurated. Subsequently, to prevent the wastage
of swill suitable for the sustenance of pigs, a special collection from
private houses was introduced.

In every city the isolation of the swill from the general material
consigned to the dust-bin though freely urged is a somewhat difficult
issue to carry into practice. Segregation at the source is imperative
to ensure the maximum results being attained. But the Liverpool
authorities overcome the obstacle very satisfactorily. The residents
were notified of the intention of the department charged with this
duty, while officials were detailed to visit and to explain to
residents the proposals, and to extend advice upon what, and what
should not, be thrown into the dust-bin. Moreover, the City Fathers
undertook to provide each house with a special receptacle for the
swill, and to collect it at frequent intervals. Experience proved that
collection twice a week sufficed to meet every requirement.

But, as a rule, when the suggestion is made that local authorities
should provide special receptacles for swill, demur is made on the plea
that such a procedure must entail further capital expenditure. Yet it
can be carried out along very inexpensive lines if attacked in the
proper spirit. So far as Liverpool has been concerned it was even found
possible to turn a waste article to such account. Among the flotsam and
jetsam sent to the corporation depots for disposal were thousands of
tins measuring 9 × 9 × 13 inches, originally used for the conveyance of
oil to this country. Examination revealed the circumstance that these
discarded receptacles could readily be converted into swill-pails,
their dimensions and construction admirably adapting them to such
a duty. Forthwith they were cleaned, one or two minor alterations
carried out, and then painted. The cost of adaptation was less than
1s.--25 cents--per tin. These were then issued to the residents who
expressed readiness to co-operate with the efforts of the authorities,
and proved a complete success. It has often been advanced by local
authorities that the residents will never collaborate in such schemes
of segregation at the source, declining to be bothered, but the
experience gained at Liverpool does not support such a contention. The
inhabitants of the city astride the Mersey responded very promptly to
the request to save and segregate their swill, the result being that
enormous accumulations of potential and valuable pig-food were secured.

Swill supplies being assured, the next step was to handle this waste
at the depot, and to prepare it for the piggeries. The City Engineer,
Mr. John A. Brodie, M.Inst.C.E., advanced a complete solution to this
problem and along economical lines. A number of old pitch boilers
and other plant was lying idle at the depot. This was turned out,
overhauled, rigged up and coupled up to the steam generating equipment
of the destructor. The household swill was cooked in these vessels,
and in this manner a first-class pig-food was produced. To ensure the
consumption of the swill thus obtained the Corporation installed its
own piggeries and poultry runs upon its farms. The swill, while still
hot, was conveyed to the piggeries in the municipal motor wagons and
doled out. Private pig-raisers were also at liberty to obtain the swill
in the heated condition if they cared to fetch it. This facility was
readily accepted, inasmuch as it saved the pig-keepers the trouble and
time of conducting collection from houses in the conventional manner
and then boiling it upon their farms for their animals.

Continuous development of the reclamation of waste problem has been the
policy of the Liverpool civic authorities. Satisfied with the pecuniary
and other results attending their initial efforts the City Engineer
installed an inexpensive and complete plant working upon the Scott
system, described in another chapter, for the full reclamation of the
material contained in the city refuse. It was laid down at the central
depot primarily to treat the meat, fish, and other organic offal,
increasing quantities of which were forthcoming. The plant in question
comprises a digester, dryer, vacuum pump, disintegrator and fat tanks.
Electric drive is employed throughout, the necessary power being drawn
from the municipal generating station.

The digester, made of steel, 7 feet long by 3 feet in diameter, is of
sufficient capacity to receive one ton of refuse at a time, and works
at a pressure of 60 lb. It is charged from the top and emptied from the
bottom. It works upon the jacket principle, and the necessary steam may
be admitted both at the top and bottom as desired. Top and bottom cocks
are fitted for drawing off all fatty and oily liquid for the fat tanks,
and also to draw off the liquor. About four hours are required to treat
the charge.

The vacuum dryer is a drum, 4 feet 6 inches deep by 5 feet in diameter,
and is also able to receive a charge of one ton. Top and bottom
facilities, for charging and emptying respectively, are provided.
Within the vessel rotating blades are disposed to keep the contents in
agitation during treatment, these blades making about 25 revolutions
per minute. All foul gases arising during the process are drawn off
by a vacuum pump, and are led to the furnaces to be consumed, thereby
being rendered innocuous before escaping into the atmosphere.

The disintegrator is a cast-iron cylinder provided with a continuous
automatic feed. Within the vessel are set a number of steel arms which
run at a very high speed--about 2,500 revolutions per minute--which
break up and thoroughly disintegrate the refuse introduced until it is
able to pass through the meshes of the screen placed at the bottom of
the machine.

The process is very simple. The refuse is dumped into the digester
which, upon being filled, is sealed. Steam is turned on, and the
resultant cooking releases all the oleaginous constituents of the
contents, which are floated off through the cock to be led to the
fat-recovery tanks. The cooking is continued until the raw waste has
shed every drop of recoverable oil and grease. The digester is then
emptied, pressed, and the cooked material passed to the dryer to be
dried, thence to the disintegrator to be pulverized or ground to the
required degree of fineness.

The fatty and oil liquors drawn from the digester fall into a tank,
and the fat and grease collecting on the surface are skimmed off to
be passed to a lower tank. All tanks are kept at a certain degree of
temperature by means of a steam-heated coil. The fat and oil reclaimed
in this manner are subsequently treated for their yield of glycerine,
the final residue entering into the preparation of soap and other
articles.

The solid residues recovered from the disintegrator, representing the
fibres from the meat, fish offal and other solid matter, constitute an
excellent poultry food. According to the analyses which have been made
it is rich in the albuminoids and phosphates.

While the foregoing naturally represents the foremost and greatest
phase of salvage activity pursued by the Liverpool Corporation it
by no means exhausts their efforts in this direction. Other refuse
is recovered and treated for some one or other specific commercial
purpose. All bones are collected, washed, and boiled to secure the fat,
the solid matter afterwards being ground into meal. Vegetable refuse,
of which large quantities are forthcoming, especially from the markets,
are dried and stored, having been found useful as a constituent for
poultry foods. Fish, both offal and unsold inedible surplus, is
converted directly into fertilizer. Wooden refuse, recovered from
dust-bins and other sources, is heated at low temperature to allow
carbonization for sale as charcoal. Large quantities of straw,
both clean and soiled, are also brought in, being recovered from
packing-cases and crates. The clean straw is segregated to be chopped
finely, and as such meets with a ready sale among poultry-raisers
because it constitutes a very effective scratching material. The dirty
straw, together with soiled paper and old wooden boxes incapable of
other treatment, as well as other light refuse, are burned in a special
furnace which has been installed, care being observed to collect the
ash. As the latter contains approximately 12 per cent. potash it
forms a first-class fertilizer. Banana stalks are likewise rich in
potash, and so, by submitting the stalks, large quantities of which
are forthcoming from the fruit markets under normal conditions, to a
special treatment, this potash is recovered and is turned over to the
soap-makers. Oyster shells are washed, calcined, and then ground for
sale as grit to poultry-raisers.

Damaged and condemned eggs are frequently received in large quantities
from the docks, warehouses and wholesale establishments. One
consignment numbered no fewer than a quarter of a million. Instead of
being used as fuel for the destructor, these eggs are boiled, then
chopped, dried and together with the shells are finely ground into meal
for use as chicken food.

Consignments of ham and bacon are often received in heavy quantities at
times from the docks. This inedible food is submitted to treatment to
secure the various commercial by-products such as oil and grease, the
residue being ground up into meal.

From the foregoing it will be realized that Liverpool is not
permitting much waste of any commercial character to find its way to
the incinerator. The wise policy now being pursued is bearing fruit.
The prices which have been, and still are being, realized, render
the trouble and effort expended well worth while. The meal made from
fish offal, after the extraction of the oil, has fetched as much as
£25--$125--per ton, while the butchers’ offal, after similar treatment,
has commanded an equally satisfactory price. Even the refuse gathered
from the households of the city, and capable of being turned into
poultry-meal, which exceeds 20 tons a week, is promptly sold at prices
ranging up to £15--$75--per ton. The possibilities attending systematic
collection from private residences have also been conclusively
established, and at the moment the Corporation is gathering a round
1,000 tons of such waste from certain houses in the course of the
year. Reclaimed tins, after being washed and dried, have realized up
to £8--$40--per ton, while, to meet the enhanced request for organic
manure, an excellent fertilizer is being prepared from certain
materials which come into the hands of the authorities, or accrue from
the practice of waste-reclaiming. The Corporation are able to dispose
of this fertilizer with comparative ease at the rate of 50,000 tons
during the year.

Other towns are able to point to comparable achievements in connection
with the exploitation of waste incurred within their areas. Some of
the small communities are even able to produce some startling records
in this connection. If all our civic and municipal authorities could
be brought into line and raised to the productive level of Glasgow or
Liverpool, the cumulative benefits to the nation would be enormous and
far reaching. But, as yet, only a fraction of what might be secured is
being turned to useful account. For instance, it is computed that 3,000
tons of first-class pig-food could be recovered from London alone every
week--this in itself would show a heavy yield of fats and greases if
properly treated--but at present it is being wasted.

Merely because foodstuffs--meat, fish, eggs, fruit, and other
commodities innumerable of a perishable nature--are condemned as being
unfit for the service of man, that is not to say they have completed
their mission in the scheme of things ordained by a so-called high
civilization. Doubtless they assist in the manufacture of excellent
paving-stones, but although we are in dire need of houses and this is
the concrete age, that is not a sufficiently reasonable excuse for
withdrawing nitrogenous products from the cycle of Nature.



CHAPTER XI

POTATO WASTE AS AN ASSET TO INDUSTRY


The potato has entered so intimately into our domestic life as to be
regarded as indispensable to the human dietary. Whether its food value
be exaggerated or otherwise, the fact remains that, speaking generally,
it now ranks second to wheat in the estimation of the bread-eating
nations. A potato-less dinner-table would create more dismay than one
from which the familiar roll is missing, while some of us may even
recall the widespread misery which was provoked in Ireland during the
black years of 1845 and 1846 from the failure of the potato crop. The
succulent tuber has achieved such a high estate among the community as
to be deemed capable of taking the place of the cereal associated with
the staff of life should exigencies so demand.

In view of such extreme popularity it is not surprising to find
the potato cultivated extensively in the British Islands to serve
essentially as a foodstuff for both man and beast. No allotment-holder
would consider his endeavours to be complete without the inclusion of
this vegetable in his gardening programme. As illuminative of the grip
which the cult of the potato has secured upon the amateur son of Adam
it may be mentioned that the allotment-holders of England and Wales
raised a round 1,000,000 tons of this tuber, for the most part upon
10-rod plots, during the year 1918. Many farmers now regard it as the
backbone to their agricultural endeavours, especially in those parts of
the country where the soil conditions are particularly favourable to
its easy and prolific cultivation.

Yet, in our use of the potato, we are extremely wasteful. We lose or
discard at least one-third of what we grow. It is estimated that 25
per cent. of the value of a crop is lost to the farmer in cartage,
carriage, clamping, bagging, marketing, and grading. This figure does
not take into account the circumstance that only the cream of the
crop--the ware potato--is set aside for human consumption, for which,
of course, the maximum price is demanded. Neither does it refer to the
losses incurred from the ravages of diseases, which, while varying
according to the soil and weather conditions, are always material. An
appreciable proportion of this loss and waste might be avoided were
the practice of storage by clamping superseded by a method more in
accordance with contemporary thought.

A further loss, even in connection with those set aside for the table,
is incurred in the preparation of the vegetable. Peeling, as a rule, is
clumsily and perfunctorily performed, “spud drill” being considered as
one of the drudgeries of domestic life, because a pronounced portion
of the edible flesh is removed with the skin, eyes and other unsightly
or inedible parts. The extent of this loss varies with the size of the
tuber and the carelessness or skill of the peeler. Consequently it may
vary from 10 to 30 per cent. or even more.

What is done with the peelings? For the most part, notably in towns
and cities, they suffer cremation, either at the destructor, via the
dust-bin, or in the kitchen stove. But potato-peelings constitute
an expensive fuel. The rural resident is generally more thrifty. He
throws the peelings into the swill-tub for pig-food, or husbands them
to boil and to blend with grain offal to sustain his poultry-run, but
the quantity thus turned to economic account is really an insignificant
proportion of the whole. Quite 600,000 tons of potato offal are
destroyed in ignorance during the year--a deliberate wastage of
valuable raw material.

The growers’ losses are equally startling, more particularly in
clamping. The tubers afflicted with disease meet with instant rejection
and destruction. Even the balance of good and sound tubers, remaining
after the selection of the ware and seed grades, is utilized along the
most wasteful lines, being regarded as fit for cattle only.

The farmer is not to be blamed for such extravagant use of the
proportion of his crop which fails to rise to the high standard set
for the table. He has not been enlightened either in regard to the
constitution of the potato or its potential industrial uses. Even if
he be cognizant of these factors he cannot more profitably exploit his
surplus owing to the absence of all facilities to such an end.

Of what is the potato composed? Here is the result of an average
analysis:--

                        Per cent.
  Fat                      0.3
  Cellulose                1
  Mineral matter           1
  Dextrine and pectose     2
  Fibrin and albumen       2.3
  Starch                  17
  Water                   75
  Waste                    1.4

The term “waste” included in the above table in reality is somewhat
misplaced, as I explain later. The starch content is also a variable
factor. While one analysis may show a percentage of only 15, another
will yield a figure exceeding 18 per cent. Consequently that quoted may
be accepted as representative.

Familiarity with the chemical composition of the humble potato prompted
the Germans to regard it from two distinct view-points. The one,
as in these islands, concerned its food potentialities; the second
took into consideration its possible application as a raw material
for several industries, such as the manufacture of alcohol, starch,
glucose, dextrine, and other articles of commerce. Consequently, potato
quotations upon the Teuton markets were dual and distinct. The one
price, which was the higher, related to produce intended for the table,
while the second, and lower, governed its industrial use.

The provision of two separate markets for the commodity produced
the inevitable result. Farmers were assured of lucrative prices
for their crop set aside for edible use, while the second market
absorbed practically the whole of what was not required to satisfy the
first-named demand, and that at an attractive figure. Accordingly,
there was every inducement to bring more and more acres under the
tuber, which led to the reclamation of poor soils regarded as utterly
useless for general agriculture.

But the encouragement thus extended wrought many other far-reaching
benefits. To persuade the poor soils devoted to the culture of the
potato to become fertile led to an increased demand for artificial
fertilizers, and provided a big domestic outlet for the native potash.
The farmers were enlightened as to the many virtues possessed by such
manures and were urged to use them liberally. The potash deposits were
not the only home resources to enjoy prosperity from such propaganda.
The steel industry reaped a certain measure of profit, because the
land offered an encouraging market for the enormous accumulations of
basic slag arising from the working in steel. Then the alcohol derived
from the potato assisted other industries, notably that concerned with
the manufacture of coal-tar dyestuffs. From this it will be seen that
the increased production of the potato, and its submission to the
most economic processes, exercised a repercussive effect in various
directions.

It was the pursuit of this policy which enabled Germany to raise
54,000,000 tons of potatoes a year. Of this enormous yield
approximately 30,000 tons were used to feed other industries with
essential raw materials. The energy displayed by the farmer resulted
in the supply exceeding the demand, so it became necessary to devise
measures to cope with the glut to avoid the grower, from the receipt
of absurdly low prices, being discouraged. The German farmer does not
favour clamping: he desires to dispose of his product immediately it is
gathered. With such an enormous output this tendency proved an awkward
obstacle. The auxiliary industries planned their operations upon a
twelve months scale. That is to say, they naturally desired to work
steadily the whole year round. The raw material from the soil came to
hand in tidal waves, and inconveniently.

The problem of meeting these sudden seasonal surges provoked
difficulty and dissatisfaction. The dependent industries acquired
their requirements, which left a very large quantity of potatoes upon
the growers’ hands. They could not hold them through the winter owing
to the extreme susceptibility of this vegetable to injury from frost.
The merchants were ready to accept delivery and to hold them in store
against the calls of commerce, but only at a price which was so low
as to leave the growers on the wrong side. The latter, dissatisfied,
threatened retaliation in the form of curtailment of production. At
this declaration the alcohol-distilling interests took alarm. To secure
themselves against any shortage of raw material they decided to hasten
to the farmers’ assistance, the merchants being ignored. The Alcohol
Association and the Farmers’ Societies collaborated to perfect ways and
means of saving the surplus both from destruction and the profiteering
of the factors. The co-operation of the Government was also sought. The
last-named assented to extend tangible aid and forthwith prizes to the
value of £1,500--$7,500--were offered to stimulate inventive fertility.
As a result of the various discussions it was decided that the most
promising solution of the vital question would be to convert the potato
into a dried product.

Inventive effort responded very promptly upon the narrowing down of
the issue. As a result of searching tests two dehydrating methods were
adopted. By these processes the potatoes are washed, cooked, dried, and
reduced to a flake and shredded form respectively. The product from
the first-named process is described as “flocken” from its flake-like
character, while the second is called “schnitzel.” The latter is the
cheaper process, the cost of dehydrating a ton of potatoes being about
4s.--$1.00--while the conversion of a ton of tubers into flocken
costs 10s.--$2.50. However, the capital investment incurred with the
machinery for producing schnitzel is higher than that for yielding the
flake, and initial outlay being the most compelling feature it is the
process which has been most widely adopted. In 1914 there were over
400 factories in operation converting the surplus potato crop into a
dried form, of which about 75 per cent. followed the flocken method.
But it does not matter which process is employed, the result is the
same--the production of a dried potato pulp, capable of being kept
indefinitely so long as it is protected against the ravages of damp,
and which suffers no injury from frost. From this dehydrated potato it
is possible to work up a cheap, excellent cattle-food.

The ability to render the potato into a convenient dry form at a low
figure prompted other countries, notably Japan and the United States
of America, to resort to similar methods, but to a different end.
The potato is rich in carbohydrates, and this fact suggested the
subsequent milling of the dry material into a flour, commercially
known as “farina,” which has proved a conspicuous commercial success.
The demand for this flour is expanding rapidly, because it serves as
excellent material for the preparation of bun-flours, cake-flours,
custard-powders, soups, and other foodstuffs, designed and marketed
with the primary idea of lessening the worries and labours of the
housewife.

Previous to the war the price for this imported article varied
between £25 and £35--$125 and $175--per ton, the cost of production
ranging from £14 to £20--$70 to $100--per ton. The margin of profit
was sufficiently wide to warrant the development of the process.
Under war conditions the price soared as high as £90--$450--per
ton, but subsequently dropped to about £45-£50--$225-$250. A very
marked diminution upon this latter figure is improbable, owing to the
increased manufacturing costs which now rule.

Therefore the question arises as to whether Britain cannot turn the
balance of her potato crop to greater commercial advantage. There is no
reason why we should not do so, seeing that in 1913 we imported over
40,000 tons of farina, while in 1917 the value of our importation of
this flour rose to £1,040,319--$5,201,595--for about 25,000 tons. It
must be conceded, however, that under present conditions less scope
exists for such a manifestation of enterprise in this country, seeing
that our potato crop is only about one-tenth of what Germany normally
raises. But the demand for the by-products in this country is every
whit as heavy and sustained as in Germany, while the fact that in this
raw material we have the base wherewith to revive an industry--the
production of starch--which Germany wrenched from us by unscrupulous
trading, alone should be sufficiently attractive to warrant such an
attempt being made. Our consumption of starch is heavy, exceeding
50,000 tons a year, while our purchases of dextrine and unpotable
methylic-alcohol, both of which can be made from the potato, run into
£70,000--$350,000--apiece during the year. Even the industrial alcohol,
despite the adverse taxation conditions which prevail, is in urgent
demand for many new industries.

If we confine the issue to the farina we have a distinctly promising
outlook. British inventive effort has been encouraged, and has evolved
a process and product of this character which are immeasurably superior
to those of the foreigner. To us the domestic manufacture of farina is
of far wider significance than its mere mention might suggest, inasmuch
as it would prove of far-reaching value as an ingredient to the loaf.
As a matter of fact the authorities, in their resolve to grapple with
the national food question, provisionally ear-marked 2,000,000 tons
of the 1918 British potato crop for conversion into farina, to be
blended with the domestic wheaten flour, to induce the supplies of the
last-named to go farther. The conclusion of hostilities rendered this
precautionary measure unnecessary.

In the eyes of many people the addition of potato-flour to wheaten
flour for bread may seem reprehensible, and to savour of adulteration.
Prejudice is a wellnigh insuperable obstacle to overcome. But in this
instance such opposition is misplaced. The introduction of farina to
the loaf cannot be regarded as an adulterant, substitute, or even a
diluent. Rightly or wrongly, the potato is invested with a high food
value: in some quarters it is even held to be an equivalent to the
wheat flour. Doubtless opposition would arise from memories of the
practice which obtained during the early days of the war. But the
faults which were encountered then were due to the method and not to
any shortcomings upon the part of the ingredient.

The utilization of the potato for the production of bread is not even
a modern innovation. It really represents a revival of a long-since
abandoned and wellnigh forgotten art. In the early years of the
Victorian era our bakers were compelled to make resort to the potato as
a constituent of the loaf. The home-grown wheat physiologically was not
adapted to the making of bread, and the same argument applies more or
less to the domestically grown cereal of these days. Normally, only a
certain volume can be used; it has to be blended with imported flour to
obtain the requisite percentage of gluten in which the domestic cereal
is deficient. The bakers of a century ago used the potato to obtain the
gluten content. With the availability of the more glutinous imported
flour recourse to the potato declined, until finally the practice was
abandoned.

The revival of the principle to meet the conditions of war proved a
failure from the simple fact that the baker had lost his cunning, and
was neither so clean nor so painstaking as his forbears in regard to
his utensils and the handling of the tuber. The potato is particularly
sensitive to contamination. Should an imperfectly-cleaned utensil be
used the resultant bread will speedily sour. Moreover, the mashing of
the potato was carried out very indifferently, while its admixture with
the other constituents was still more unsatisfactorily fulfilled, with
the result that the loaf was a spongy, unattractive, unappetizing, and
indigestible mass of doubtful nutritive value.

If the potato be used in the farinaceous form no such objections can
be levelled against the ultimate bread. The ingredients can be blended
more completely. It is this circumstance which renders the outlook
for the potato-flour so promising, and the British process which has
been perfected for its production should meet with far more gratifying
success.

The preparation of the farina is simple and straightforward. The
potatoes are taken in hand immediately after they have been dug, and
so are perfectly fresh. They are emptied into hoppers to pass to
the washing machine. Then they proceed to the steam-cooker where,
unpeeled, they are partially cooked. Finally they are conveyed to the
flaking machine, where the first stage of the process is completed.
The potato is passed between closely-set, internally-heated rollers,
the pulp being rolled out into a continuous sheet about as thick as
tissue paper. During this stage the cooking process is completed, while
the product is dried and converted into a crisp substance which is
peeled from the final roller to fall in a shower of tiny flakes into a
trough. It will be observed that the skin, eyes, and other deleterious
portions, from which all flesh has fallen away, is collected with the
main product.

Cooking, pulping, and flaking expels practically the whole of the 75
per cent. of water entering into the composition of the raw potato. The
secret of the process is the control of the temperature, which must
be maintained at a critical level, to assure the perfection of the
product. If this be excessive there is the risk of the flake becoming
charred, while, similarly, should the heat fall below the predetermined
point, the product will lack dryness and crispness. As may be imagined,
the treatment reduces the bulk of the potato very perceptibly, 5 tons
of potatoes being required to furnish 1 ton of flake.

The second process is of the conventional milling character, the flake
being ground to an extremely fine consistency. During this process the
skin and all other inedible portions are removed. It may be mentioned
that by turning the tubers into flake, slightly diseased potatoes,
which would be useless for the table, or which could only be wastefully
adapted to such a purpose, may be used without imperilling the purity
of the product in any way, and with the minimum of loss. The flaking
process presents an absolutely sterilized flour, the diseased portions
being removed during milling.

All offal is carefully collected to be treated separately. It has
pronounced food value for cattle, and, consequently, is converted into
a meal. The production of 1 ton of farina yields about 300 lb. of
offal, worth about £20--$100--a ton. The farina itself is of very fine
consistency, yellowish-white in colour, appetizing in appearance, of
pleasing aroma, the distinctive fragrance of the potato being scarcely
discernible, and, if preserved from the damp, may be kept indefinitely.

It is not imperative that the flake should be milled immediately. In
the former condition the potato may be safely stored in bags in a dry
place after the manner of grain. It is not even essential to turn it
into farina at all. In the flake form it constitutes an excellent
base for the other industries to which it may be applied. It may be
distilled for the extraction of the alcohol, excellent whisky, as
is doubtless well known, being made from the potato, while large
quantities of British brandies are produced from the starch which, by
treatment with weak sulphuric acid, is converted into glucose, which
is then fermented. Thus, it will be seen, the flake really represents
the starting-point for numerous applications, each of which has its
individual commercial possibilities. The outstanding advantage accruing
from the conversion of the potato into flake is that it enables the
product to be kept indefinitely, without suffering the slightest
deterioration, and without any waste being incurred. I have seen
samples which have been stored for seven years, and which to-day are in
every way as good as flake fresh from the machine.

In setting forth the composition of the succulent tuber I referred to
the item waste, which in the analysis given stands at 1.4 per cent.
This is the ultimate residue from certain operations, but is not common
to all, as, for instance, in the production of farina, where everything
of a solid nature is utilized. But in some branches of industrial use
there results a residue for which, at present, no attractive purpose
has been found, although there are hopes that even this insignificant
fraction will ultimately prove capable of profitable exploitation.

Turning once more to the utilization of farina as a constituent of the
loaf, we encounter a possible development which should play a very
emphatic part towards rendering ourselves less dependent upon foreign
sources of wheat supplies. A series of baking tests were conducted
under ordinary commercial conditions. The farina was mixed with the
wheat-flour in the proportion of 5 per cent. of the former to a sack of
the latter. Government Regulation flour was employed. The sack contains
280 lb., so that the addition of the farina was equal to 14 lb. Seeing
that the farina represents the potato in a highly concentrated form--5
to 1--the addition was really equal to 70 lb. of mashed potatoes--a
degree to which no ordinary baker would be prepared to venture.

In the first test the bread was moulded by hand, and the sack produced
104 loaves, each weighing, ready for the oven, 2 lb. 3 oz., as compared
with 94 loaves of equivalent weight normally obtained from the sack
at this bakery. Under machine bread-making conditions, which obtained
with the second test, and which was in accordance with the conventional
practice of the firm in question, the yield from the blended flour, for
technical reasons, was slightly lower, being 101 loaves, the weight of
the loaf, ready for the oven, being the same as in the first experiment.

Baking was conducted at a temperature of 560 degrees, the loaves
scaling barely 2 lb. 2 oz. upon withdrawal from the oven, and falling
to 2 lb. net fifteen hours after baking. The bread was examined by
experts who were present, and was declared to leave little or nothing
to be desired. Judging from the public point of view it was held to
be more attractive, owing to its increased volume, even texture, and
perfect homogeneity, while it was found to be more digestible and
satisfying.

In the hot condition the bread revealed only a slight trace of the
peculiar fragrance of the potato, but this disappeared entirely upon
cooling. The palate was unable to detect the potato-flour addition. The
keeping qualities of this bread aroused particular comment. Four days
after baking it was found to be still moist, while, upon the lapse of
a fortnight, two loaves were rebaked and then found to be totally free
from sourness. The striking success recorded was accepted by the expert
opinion to be sufficiently conclusive: indeed, the suggestion was made
that the proportion of farina might safely be increased to 7¹⁄₂ per
cent. without allowing the presence of the potato to be detected. Tests
were also carried out to determine the suitability of the potato-flour
as an ingredient in the preparation of cakes and pastries. Here again
the blended flour was unequivocally declared to yield better and more
appetizing articles than was possible with pure wheaten flour.

But, taking the 5 per cent. addition as the figure coinciding with
all-round requirements, it will be seen that the potato holds out
great economic possibilities towards the reduction of the expense
of the nation’s bread bill. During the year 1916 our consumption of
flour totalled 37,000,000 sacks, of which approximately 12,000,000
sacks represented imported flour. Assuming that 30,000,000 sacks were
devoted to the production of bread, the aggregate yield of loaves was
approximately 2,820,000,000. Had we used home-produced farina from
home-grown potatoes to the extent of 5 per cent. we could have reduced
the foregoing consumption of the wheaten product by 1,500,000 sacks,
and that without losing a single loaf. As a matter of fact we would
have been better off, because, on the higher average yield of 101
loaves per sack to which farina has been added, we should have obtained
2,875,500,000 loaves--an increase of 55,500,000 loaves.

The economy possible from the more enterprising utilization of the
potato in connection with our daily bread is so impressive as to
command attention, even to-day. Presuming that the foregoing figures
still hold good, the blending of 5 per cent. of native farina would
save 200,000 tons of shipping per year. To supply the requisite 188,000
tons of farina would involve 940,000 tons of potatoes. Seeing that the
authorities, under the dictates of war, contemplated setting aside
2,000,000 tons from the 1918 crop for the production of potato-flour,
such a demand as indicated would not impose an intolerable strain upon
our potato-growing resources. Were such a scheme carried to fruition we
should also be able to recover 28,000 tons of valuable cattle meal to
feed our stock during the winter season.

But, as already mentioned, the farina represents only one phase of
a big issue possessed of vast possibilities. The other available
openings for the products of the tuber would consume from four to eight
times the volume of potatoes available. In Germany, out of the total
54,000,000 tons raised during the year only a round 4,000,000 tons have
to be turned into flocken and schnitzel to save them from destruction
by frost. In these circumstances there would appear to be scope for the
cultivation of a further 5,000,000 tons, or twice the prevailing annual
crop in these islands, with this advantage. The farmer, assured of his
market and a fair price for his product, would be encouraged to extend
his activities, and would be prompted to exploit considerable acreage
of land which at present is regarded as waste, for the simple reason
that it cannot be cultivated under existing conditions to profit.

Even disease and its ravages would be regarded by the growers with
perfect equanimity were the industrial uses of the potato to be
developed in this country. A farmer would not be faced with disaster in
such an eventuality, as is the case to-day, because the diseased tubers
would be available for the production of alcohol. Indeed, the more
advanced the stage of disease the more suitable is the potato to this
range of exploitation.

Lifting the commercial horizon, in so far as it affects the potato,
demands support for other reasons. It would encourage inventive effort,
which, in turn, would undoubtedly lead to the elimination of wastage
in the household. Evaporative or dehydrating processes are already
in operation, and it is only logical to assume that this tendency
is capable of considerable expansion. The perfection of a simple
and inexpensive process of drying the potato, either whole or in
conveniently sized sections, as is common to culinary practice, capable
of restoration, if necessary, to the original condition before cooking
for the table, would benefit the whole community. “Spud drill,” the
_bête noire_ of every home, restaurant and hotel, with its concomitant
wastage of time and heavy loss of valuable food material, would be
eliminated. The removal of the greater part, or whole, of the 75 per
cent. of the water contained in the raw tuber would decrease bulk, and
effect a very valuable saving in transport. At the present moment the
carriage of one ton of potatoes involves the useless dragging about
of 15 cwt. of water which is superfluous. Only 5 cwt. of the load
represents solid foodstuff. Dry the potato, expel the water, and from
4 to 5 tons of the product could be carried in the space now demanded
to receive one ton. We have milk, peas, fruits, and other commodities
innumerable in an evaporated form, which in their raw condition are
associated with heavy proportions of water, so that there does not
appear to be any valid reason why the potato should not be supplied to
the housewife in a similar form and at a low figure. The perfection
of such a process would completely obviate all waste because the
offal--the peel and other inedible portions--would be recovered for
conversion into food for animals, instead of suffering incineration.
The recovery of the skin alone would bring within reach of the
cattle-raiser for winter feed upwards of 30,000 tons of meal worth from
£400,000 to £600,000--$2,000,000 to $3,000,000.

We, who live in these islands, scarcely understand the potato. We
are content to cling tenaciously to the traditions established three
hundred years ago. It is estimated that the British farmers lost over
£6,000,000--$30,000,000--in handling their 1918 crop owing to the
employment of obsolete and wasteful methods. The greater part, if not
the whole, of this loss might have been averted had more enlightened
methods prevailed concerning the utilization of the tuber. The
above-mentioned figure does not take into account the losses suffered
from disease and other causes, which must also have amounted to
millions sterling.

Our system is as pre-historic as many of the agricultural methods
practised by the fellaheen in the Land of the Pharaohs. The potatoes
are dug and then collected for storage in big clamps. These have to
be opened at intervals to allow the contents to be turned over and
inspected, to ascertain whether or no latent disease has asserted
itself. The potatoes have to be graded and bagged preparatory for
market, while there is the formidable item of transport to be
considered. Between the harvesting of the crop and its ultimate
disposal considerable handling ensues, while the difference in value
between the “ware,” or table, potatoes and the “chats,” or those
regarded as fit only for the pigs, is also very pronounced.

Contrast this method with what would obtain were we to develop the
Continental system. After digging and grading the crop the farmer would
merely be called upon to convey his harvest to the factory, when all
anxiety, so far as he was concerned, would end. The method would be
comparable with that pertaining to the handling of the wheat harvest in
the great grain-growing countries, where the farmer is merely called
upon to gather his grain and to haul it to the elevator. The saving
in time and labour alone--two vital factors in these days--would be
incalculable, while the risks of loss of crop would be completely
obviated.

The super-scientific exploitation of the potato would extend
far-reaching benefits in every direction. Not only would considerable
stretches of derelict agricultural Britain be brought into
productivity, but the very stimulation of the poor soils would bring
about startling expansion in the production of artificial fertilizers,
and would tend to stabilize such industries. In this way the recovery
of waste in many other directions would be fostered--potash from the
flues of the blast furnaces; basic slag from the dumps disfiguring the
countryside in the vicinity of our ironworks; sulphate of ammonia from
our gas and coking ovens; nitrates from the air. These would offer
scope for employment, and tend to keep money within the confines of
these islands, because the expansion of waste-recovery plants upon
a sufficiently impressive scale in the interests of agriculture,
with the local demand constituting the backbone of the trade, would
encourage production for export. The labour thus absorbed would more
than counter-balance the displacement experienced on the farms, and
would redound to the benefit of the latter, because foods for poor
and rich soils would be turned out in increasing streams and at lower
prices. Thus it will be seen that any development of the potato, along
modern scientific lines, and in such a way as to frustrate waste, must
represent a big stride forward in the progressive cycle.



CHAPTER XII

CONVERTING NITROGENOUS REFUSE INTO SOAP


A startling corollary of contemporary economic conditions is the
spirited struggle which is now being waged between the table and
the bath. The structural fabric of the human body demands a certain
proportion of fat to ensure its smooth rhythmic working in precisely
the same way as a machine requires oil. At the same time a cleanser is
necessary wherewith to scour the external surface of the body to obtain
protection against the ravages of disease. Fat is essential to fulfil
this mission also. But there is an insufficient supply forthcoming to
meet the complete claims of both. So the question arises--Which shall
be satisfied? Little Mary or Mother Hygeia?

When Mégè Mouries, animated by the contention that it was preferable
for the poor of Paris to be able to obtain a first-class nutritive
butter substitute in preference to butter of doubtful quality, advanced
his discovery of margarine as the solution to this problem, he little
realized what a tremendous upheaval his invention was destined to
achieve, or the staggering problem it would ultimately present to
civilization. Certainly for many years his butter substitute, contrived
from animal fat and milk, was regarded askance by the community in
general. It was grudgingly conceded to be a possible food only for the
poorest of the poor--those denied the opportunity from lack of means to
purchase butter of any description.

For many years margarine was the object of unprincipled prejudice and
obloquy. It struggled desperately for recognition. Inventive effort
was expended freely to render the product more and more attractive
in appearance and flavour, to attract all classes of the community.
Indeed, ingenuity was carried to such lengths as to produce a
substitute impossible of detection from the genuine article, except by
the most searching analysis.

But the rejected of 1871 has become the indispensable of 1919. The
prevailing shortage of dairying products, confined not to one single
country or even continent, but common to the whole world, has compelled
the recognition of the virtues of margarine. The alternative is to go
without, inasmuch as other edible fats, which might have taken the
place of butter, have become unobtainable. But the British public,
which fought the advance and claims of margarine for nearly half a
century with a blind fury, and being forced to accept Hobson’s choice,
has encountered a pleasant surprise. The criticized butter substitute
is found to be not so bad as it has been painted. With improving
acquaintance opinion has veered round and now admits, somewhat tardily
perhaps, that what was once considered to be only the poor man’s butter
is, in reality, an excellent foodstuff in itself, and preferable to
many grades of the genuine article, some of which certainly are not
above suspicion. To convey some idea of the enormous hold which this
article of food has now secured upon the public it may be related that
the turnover of one firm, specializing in the preparation of this
product, aggregated no less than £22,000,000--$110,000,000--during the
year 1918.

The increasing popularity of margarine speedily exercised a pronounced
reaction upon the soap-manufacturing industry. The fats which were
being utilized for the production of detergents were now demanded
for conversion into foodstuffs. Hitherto, the soap-boiler has been
regarded as the very lowest depths to which fatty waste can possibly
sink. Thereto gravitated all the flotsam and jetsam of greases arising
from other industries and in every stage of decay. But it did not
matter how rancid the substance might be by the time it reached the
soap-manufacturer. Here a scarcely credible metamorphosis could be
effected, the most repellent raw material being transformed into the
most attractive and fragrant acquisition to the toilet. Little wonder
therefore that fats condemned as unfit or considered superfluous,
though perfectly sound, for other use by man or beast, found their way
to this mill. The soap-maker could absorb it all.

Thus, it will be seen, the soap trade is founded upon the commercial
utilization of waste, and this raw material is drawn from the three
kingdoms--animal, vegetable, and fish. As a matter of fact, the source
of the fat is immaterial. It can be compelled to play its allotted part
in the evolution of the cleansing agent.

The British nation is a big consumer of soap. Supplies of animal fat
could never keep pace with the demand for this commodity. So the
vegetable kingdom was compelled to pay fat tribute to the soap-maker,
the coco-nut, palm-kernel, and other exotic nut products furnishing
the requisite oil expressed from the fleshy parts of their distinctive
fruits. Then the harvests of the sea were found able to contribute
impressive supplies of oils. These were likewise impressed into service.

While the soap-maker was busily engaged in his task another chemical
wizard arose. He had discovered a means of hardening or solidifying
fish oils, which naturally are fluid except at very low temperatures.
This was a sensational discovery. Hydrogen was the agent which achieved
the apparently impossible, but it did far more than merely to harden
the oil. By harnessing the gas to this duty the peculiarly pungent
aroma, and distinctive taste of the fish, is completely removed from
the oil.

This scientific achievement brought a further levy of waste into
industry. The refuse from whales which had hitherto been permitted
to rot, the inedible portions of fish from the canneries, even glut
catches of oil-yielding fish for which no profitable market could
be found, were treated to secure the oleaginous product, which was
subsequently hardened and then turned over to the margarine industry.
The hydrogenated fish oil has been found to furnish an excellent butter
substitute, and one so closely allied to the genuine article in every
essential respect as to demand the evolution of new and more exacting
methods to determine its actual origin. It offers the closest approach
to butter by synthetic agency which has ever been accomplished up to
this time.

The striking improvements recorded in the process and manufacture of
margarine arrested the attention of the soap-maker. He reflected. Here
he was receiving fats of every description to turn them into a product
which only realized 4d.--8 cents--a pound. Yet he could take much of
that self-same raw material, and by submitting it to another treatment
he could produce an article which, as a foodstuff, was worth 1s.--25
cents--a pound. Why should he trouble to turn the fat into soap when he
could derive three times the money by transforming it into an article
of diet?

The war provided him with the opportunity for which he had been waiting
patiently. The deficiency in butter supplies had to be remedied with
margarine, which the public would have to accept willy-nilly. So the
soap-maker switched over all the fresh sound fats from the soap-pans to
the margarine mill. To-day thousands of tons of fats which five years
ago would have been reduced to soap, this being considered as the only
remaining utilization for the waste, is being turned into a food. The
table has triumphed over the bath.

The devout worshippers at the feet of Hygeia may lament this inversion.
But they need not despair. The world is not destined to go short of
soap. Two British chemists, as a result of deep thinking, decided
to attack the soap manufacturing issue _de novo_. They were not
disposed to accept, at their face value, all that the textbooks set
forth concerning the chemistry of soap. They were rather impressed by
the fact that the manufacture of soap had undergone no fundamental
change since the first cake was placed upon the market, which was
during the days when Pepys was walking among us taking notes. So far
as soap chemistry theories prevailed the two chemists in question
were Bolshevic in their attitude towards them, which was a fortunate
circumstance.

A cake of soap is as familiar as a loaf of bread. Yet how little do
we know about it, despite the brain-power which has been crowded upon
its preparation. As a cleansing agent it is without a rival. Many
big industries would have to close their mills to-morrow were their
supplies of soap cut off. Yet its composition is very simple. It is
composed of only two basic ingredients--fat, from which the glycerine
has been extracted, and caustic soda. No matter how much you may pay
for the article, be it a penny or half-a-crown a tablet, analyse it,
and you will find that there is the soda which achieves the cleansing
effect, and the fat which gives the lather. It is quite possible a
variety of other substances may be found associated with the two basic
constituents, such as diatomaceous earth, Fuller’s earth, farina,
traces of disinfectant, colouring matter, cereal grains, perfume,
and even water. But beyond rendering the soap attractive to the
eye, pleasant to the nose, or to a certain degree germicidal, these
additional materials perform no useful purpose. They are described as
fillers, but in more candid language may be set down, for the most
part, as sheer adulterants. Few articles lend themselves so readily
to adulteration as soap. Was it not an analyst who, in the courts,
described a piece of soap submitted to him for investigation as a
striking example of water standing upright!

Although we profess to know so much about soap and its properties, we
are really labouring in ignorance. No chemist can tell you explicitly
whether the cleansing action exercised is the result of chemical,
physical, or mechanical action. It is one of those questions which the
seeker after truth had better not press home too energetically, because
the man of brains would probably retort firmly, but gently, that the
interrogation involves such a complex reply as to be beyond your powers
of comprehension.

In our resolve to respect Hygeia we are most liberal in our use of
soap. We are even woefully extravagant, although the blame cannot be
laid upon the shoulders of the user. The water is the criminal. Did
it but rigidly adhere to the chemical formula of its composition,
namely H₂O, all would be well, but unfortunately it is associated
with certain salts which it picks up from the soil during its natural
movement. Water appears to exercise a bewitching fancy for two salts in
particular--lime and magnesia. It is the presence of these salts which
renders our water hard. I might mention that there are other impurities
in the water contributing to wastage of soap, but the two mentioned are
the worst offenders in this respect.

Lime and magnesia have a remarkable affinity for fat, and until their
amorous inclination is satiated the soap cannot possibly settle down
to the duty for which it is employed. The moment the soap enters the
water a chemical reaction occurs, the lime or magnesia, perhaps both,
attracting the particles of fat until it is impossible for another
molecule to be taken up. The extent of this attraction of the salts for
the fat, and which the latter can no more resist than can iron filings
battle against the drawing power of the magnet, may be gathered from
the state of affairs prevailing in regard to the London water. The
particles of lime contained in every 1,000 gallons of water attract
approximately 15 pounds of fat contained in the soap before permitting
the latter to lather. Seeing that fat enters into the composition of
the average soap to the extent of approximately 60 per cent., it will
be seen that about 25 per cent. of the fatty content of the soap is put
out of action without performing any useful work.

The total loss of soap incurred during the year in London alone through
this affinity runs into stupendous figures. The water consumption
for washing purposes in the metropolis, according to Mr. Townsend,
F.C.S., is 7,000,000 gallons a day. Consequently, at least 105,000
pounds of fat slip down the drains during the course of every
twenty-four hours without fulfilling any useful service. The value
of this loss, according to the same authority, may be set down at
£1,000,000--$5,000,000--a year. This represents sheer waste, because
the fats escape without extending a fraction of benefit to any one.
It represents that section which has merely allied itself to the
pernicious salts to form the lime-soap. From the foregoing one can
form some estimate of the wastage of soap annually incurred throughout
the country from the mere union of 25 per cent. of the fat with the
lime--this figure fluctuates according to the degree of hardness of the
water. Certainly it attains a figure which baffles credulity.

Confirmatory evidence of this waste is forthcoming from every
hand-basin, bath, and washing appliance. It is revealed in the
repulsive-looking greasy grey curds streaking the sides of the vessel,
and which the user in ignorance generally dismisses as dirt removed
by the soap. The housewife and launderer are often perplexed by the
yellowish tone which certain garments assume, and the harsh and
stickiness incidental to flannel after being washed. These defects
are directly due to the lime-soap. Its presence is additionally
exasperating owing to its extreme tenacity and penetrative powers,
which wellnigh defy removal, except by the aid of powerful agents,
the use of which is to be deplored, because they precipitate further
and peculiar worries and adversely affect the fabrics. In the textile
industries, more particularly the woollen trade, the lime-soap is
regarded as the greatest affliction upon the craft.

The question arises as to whether the lime cannot be removed from the
water, or whether science can evolve a soap capable of hurling defiance
at the lime. The solution to the first-named suggestion is distillation
of the water before use, a tedious and costly operation, or the
subjection of the water to a softening process to effect the removal
of the lime before the soap be introduced. Great strides have been
recorded in this last-named field, but, unhappily, the question of cost
constitutes an adverse factor. Thus the true solution would seem to lie
in the preparation of a soap capable of resisting the blandishments of
the lime.

It was this particular solution which the two British chemists, to whom
I have alluded, set out to discover, but many years of patient labour
in the laboratory was necessary to register the first success. This was
due to the fact that they set out upon quite an original and unexplored
line of research. They recognized that the margarine industry must
develop into one of the biggest industries of the country, and that,
accordingly, the tendency would be to abandon the conversion of
fats into soap owing to the heavier claims of the table, and the
more remunerative return which would arise from such an industrial
diversion. They were also aware of the fact that in preparing the fats
for the table a certain proportion of residue must result. At that time
there appeared to be no profitable field for the utilization of this
waste. So they decided to conduct their investigations along the path
which would admit of this refuse being employed.

The fatty constituent decided, they cast around for another staple
which was indispensable to the process they had definitely resolved to
perfect. For this they required protein, the governing principle being
the perfection of a cereal soap, the nitrogenous compounds of which
should be turned to cleansing duty. Proteins were available in infinite
variety, but here again it was realized that it would be wanton waste
to use an article likely to be in request to serve as food for man or
beast. Then they discovered that there were ample quantities of protein
running to waste from commercial neglect. Accordingly, they decided
to utilize these materials. The third constituent was the soda which
must enter into the composition of any and every soap, but this did not
occasion the slightest anxiety.

Equipped with these three materials they set to work. Experiment was
tedious, and progress was slow, due to the fact that research was being
conducted in quite a new and unknown field, absolutely deficient of any
previous experience to serve as a guide. The first success recorded was
the preparation of a soap in the form of a meal or powder coinciding
with their ideas. This was submitted to the most rigorous tests, and
the results obtained were quite in accordance with expectations. When
this soap is introduced into the water no coagulation of the fat
with the lime occurs. In this way the lime soap enemy was completely
vanquished. As a supreme test sea-water was tried, with which it
was found to lather as readily and as easily as when employed with
distilled water.

The discovery represented a sensational achievement. It proved that
something was awry with the existing theories pertaining to the
chemistry of soap. Technical tests were undertaken, and they proved
just as startling, because effects diametrically opposed to standard
theories were observed. Whereas ordinary soap is insoluble in water,
but soluble in alcohol, the cereal soap, so-called because of the
starch which enters into its composition, is soluble in water, but
absolutely insoluble in alcohol. The position is reversed.

A new era in soap manufacture was thus ushered in. The discovery came
as a bomb-shell to the soap-making world, and, because it could not be
explained through prevailing long-accepted chemical laws pertaining
to this subject, it was ridiculed in certain quarters. To aggravate
the situation chemists, who set out to fathom the secret of the new
process by rigorous analysis, found themselves baffled. They could
not determine the bases employed owing to the chemical reaction which
had taken place during the preparation of the article, and from the
circumstance that it belongs to colloidal chemistry. To indicate how
completely the trade was baulked it may be mentioned that the chemist
attached to one soap manufacturer in this country, and who had been
requested to analyse a sample, contemptuously dismissed the product
not as a soap, but as a filler!

Undaunted by the flood of adverse criticism which they provoked, the
inventors requested the industries to which soap is essential, and
which were being harassed by the lime-soap bugbear, to subject the
discovery to a commercial test. They did so, and were so surprised at
the results obtained as to ask promptly for further supplies! It not
only offered them the means to reduce their consumption of soap, but it
performed the desired functions more efficaciously, and proved to be a
complete panacea for the many ills which had heretofore afflicted the
trade. So impressed were they by what the new detergent accomplished
that they established its use in their works there and then, and to
this day have never reverted to the article formerly used.

In the powder form the application of the cereal soap was somewhat
restricted. Accordingly the inventors decided to produce it in the
familiar tablet and bar form, to enable a wider appeal to be made, even
to the home. As events proved it was far easier to attain the meal
stage than to pass therefrom to the solid cake. In fact, at one time it
seemed as if this desired end would never be consummated. It was only
by dint of unflagging effort that success was ultimately secured, and
the soap in tablet and bar form introduced to the market.

As the manufacture of soap from waste vegetable bases represents
something entirely new, so do the actual methods of production. The
revolution is complete. In preparing the conventional soap from 10
to 16 days are necessary. By the new process the cereal soap can be
made in sixty minutes! Furthermore, the operation is clean, absolutely
free from odour, and cold, no heat whatever being required, except to
warm the factory during the winter for the comfort of the employees.
The machinery necessary is also of the simplest and most inexpensive
character. Under these conditions there is not only a very marked
saving in time, but of fuel and labour. In these high-pressure days
wastage of time is as criminal as the wastage of material, and one
logically asks why spend ten days in consummating a specific end when
one hour will suffice for the purpose?

The saving in capital expenditure is very impressive, being at least 75
per cent. below that demanded for equipping the conventional factory.
In other words, £10,000--$50,000--will provide an installation capable
of turning out as much cereal soap as could be recorded with a plant
costing £40,000--$200,000--devoted to the orthodox system.

The outstanding feature of the process is the complete absence of all
boiling operations. The starch and protein-yielding material are passed
through a mill to be reduced to a fine powder of the consistency of
flour. This being a straightforward milling operation, the machinery
ordinarily employed for grinding grain and other foods may be used.
The flour is then emptied into a mixing machine, which is naught but
the familiar dough-mixer used in the bakery. When the mixer is set
in motion the caustic soda is admitted in a fine controlled stream.
Directly the two materials come into contact the chemical reaction
commences, the soda attacking the starch granules and breaking them
down. Evidence of the battle in progress between the two chemicals
is betrayed by the emission of the strong ammonia fumes, which prove
that the nitrogenous compounds are being released. The admission of
caustic soda is continued until the chemical reaction is concluded
and the starch granules have been completely broken up. As the
process is advanced the vegetable oil is admitted, the operation
being so controlled as to yield a plastic mass of predetermined
consistency. This is thoroughly kneaded after the manner of baker’s
dough. The subsequent processes are common to those of the ordinary
soap manufactory, the material being passed successively through the
milling, plodding, and stamping machines.

The raw materials for the provision of the essential protein are
drawn from the extensive vegetable kingdom. But in no instance is
any material having a claim upon the community or the animal world
as a possible food used for the purpose. Dependence is placed rather
upon the waste incurred by the preparation of other products, or of
materials which have been condemned as useless for food purposes.

As a case in point it may be mentioned that a grain-carrying ship was
torpedoed, sunk, and, together with the cargo, subsequently salvaged.
The retrieved grain was dried in the anticipation that it might be
found suitable for cattle-feeding. But the expectations were doomed to
disappointment. The wheat had been too completely impregnated with the
salt from the sea. No other profitable use presenting itself, it was
acquired for conversion into soap. It was ground in the usual manner
and turned into the mixer. The presence of the salt, which had rendered
the grain useless even as a cattle food, did not constitute an adverse
factor. Had it not been for the cereal soap factory this cargo would
have had to suffer destruction and have been completely lost to the
community, whereas it was sold at a remunerative figure. Potato flour
has likewise been utilized, but has not been widely exploited for the
simple reason that this material constitutes an excellent foodstuff,
either for man in the form of farina, or for cattle. Maize has also
been used together with such products as rice, barley, oats, rye,
and so on, but, except where the produce of this nature has suffered
injury, it is not turned into soap. However, in those countries where a
heavy surplus of such crops is encountered it would be found profitable
to establish the cereal soap industry as a means of turning the glut to
profitable advantage.

The principle governing the selection of the starch-yielding
constituent is also observed in regard to the fat which is necessary.
This is drawn exclusively from the margarine factories. It is a residue
and at the moment possesses no other known marketable value. The
ability to turn this refuse into an ingredient for soap has come as
a distinct relief to the margarine industry, which threatened to be
perplexed in the economical disposal of the accumulations. Seeing that
the margarine manufacture is progressing by leaps and bounds, there is
not likely to be any shortage in connection with the fat constituent of
the cereal soap.

Supplies of a cheap and useless albeit rich starch waste product have
also been secured in illimitable quantities. This has materially
simplified the task of production. While a certain proportion of this
particular raw material is secured for the preparation of an article
of food, about 75 per cent. is discarded as waste. Since cattle
will not eat it there remains no other field of utilization beyond
the soap factory, for which it is eminently suited. In addition to
the above-mentioned quantities ample supplies of this material are
forthcoming, because it is freely used as ballast in ships sailing from
the corner of the world in which the plant grows in profusion. Should
the demand for the food product which this substance yields increase
it would not exercise any stringency, because the offal alone would
be adequate to satisfy soap-making requirements. In pre-war days this
waste cost only 10s.--$2.50--per ton, but during the war, owing to
freight inflation, the price rose to £10--$50--per ton, while little
was carried in ballast, more profitable cargo being readily obtainable.
Consequently imports declined, only sufficient being brought into the
country to furnish the needs of the industry from which the foodstuff
is made. But the vegetable world is wide, and so it is by no means
a difficult problem to satisfy requirements for this new industry,
even in regard to starch-yielding wastes. The only other essential
ingredient is soda. As enormous quantities of this article are
manufactured in this country supplies thereof are readily assured and
at an attractive figure.

There is one feature concerning this conversion of vegetable wastes
into soap which deserves mention. Should all familiar starch-yielding
products become unobtainable, a remote contingency, or attain an
excessive figure, manufacture need not be suspended. As a last
extremity sawdust can be utilized as the protein base. The possibility
of turning sawdust into soap constitutes something distinctly new
and novel to the industry, but the apparently impossible is readily
feasible under the process described. Normally such an expedient would
not find favour, inasmuch as certain difficulty is experienced in the
complete subjugation, or elimination, of the fibre which is exceedingly
resistant to the breaking-up action resulting from milling and the
chemical reaction. Nevertheless, the circumstance that sawdust can be
used in this connection opens up vast possibilities, and represents
an opportunity for inventive effort in the perfection of simple and
completely effective means to overcome the fibre difficulty.

So far as industry is concerned the use of nitrogenous and oil wastes
in the form of soap has enabled startling economies to be effected.
In the woollen industry alone the saving in the soap-bill ranges from
20 per cent. upwards, as compared with other soaps which have been
used, while the silk and cotton crafts can point to like economies.
The successful subjugation of the lime-soap fiend is beneficially
reflected in other directions. The effluents from the factories
are conducted into the local drainage systems. The presence of the
lime-soap in the drains provokes a host of troubles, such as clogging
of the pipes and the fouling of traps and gullies, the curds proving
exasperatingly tenacious and defying ready removal by ordinary
flushing measures. Furthermore, the sludge reclaimed from the sewage,
if contaminated by lime-soap, suffers material depreciation as a
fertilizing agent because the grease, which is eventually released from
the lime, tends to clog the soil.

But the most impressive fact to the ordinary user, both domestic and
industrial, is the opportunity to reduce the wastage of soap. The
fat content of the cereal soap is 50 per cent. less than that of the
familiar article, and the whole of this is free to emulsify, from its
refusal to coagulate with the lime in the water. Moreover, it contains
two cleansing agents--the soda and the nitrogenous compounds--whereas
the rival carries only one--the soda. Therefore it is not surprising
to learn that in actual practice one pound of cereal soap will go as
far, and do as much useful work, as two pounds of the ordinary soap.
The ability to make a lather in sea-water is another distinct advantage
which has been responsible for the widespread use of this commodity in
the Royal Navy and mercantile marine.

Applied to London, the avoidance of soap-waste is certainly
startling. It not only indicates how we can retrieve the
£1,000,000--$5,000,000--at present escaping down the drains during the
year, but the fat thus saved may be turned to more valuable account.
The soap contributing to this gross loss is made from the very material
possessing decided dietetic value. Therefore, by the law of economics,
it should be diverted from its present use, admirable though it be
to fulfil the claims of cleanliness, to the more vital application,
especially in these days of stress and shortage. The table must take
precedence over the bath.



CHAPTER XIII

TURNING OLD OIL INTO NEW


Oil is the blood of industry. Do we ever pause to reflect as to what
would happen if we were suddenly to be deprived of our supplies of this
commodity? Do we realize that without oil every machine would instantly
be condemned to idleness, that our clocks would stop, and that it would
be impossible for a train, steamship, tram, or omnibus to move a yard?
The probability is that we have never given a thought to the subject,
otherwise we should scarcely be so extravagant in our use of the
article. Certainly we would not hesitate to expend appreciable effort
in the recovery of as much of the waste as possible for further use.

Britain’s normal importations of lubricating oil are in the
neighbourhood of 68,000,000 gallons a year, and they cost us a round
£2,500,000--$12,500,000. The tendency in regard to consumption is
upwards owing to our enhanced industrial activity, so that we are
becoming more and more dependent upon extraneous sources of supply for
our requirements.

But the wastage is colossal. Rags and cotton waste, after becoming so
soddened with oil as to be incapable of absorbing another drop, are
discarded without compunction. There is scarcely a workshop, factory
or office in the country which cannot point to improvidence in this
direction. Such absence of thought is deplorable for more reasons than
one. Not only is the oil, which might be recovered, irretrievably lost,
but the very absorbent which from its textile nature might prove of
distinct value for other applications shares a similar fate. Were only
50 per cent. of the oil wasted in this country during the course of
the year recovered, it would be possible to reduce our imports to a
very pronounced degree. The reclaimed oil might not be of any value for
its avowed purpose, but it must be remembered that lubrication does not
constitute the one and only purpose to which oil can be applied.

The remarkable development of mechanical traction upon our highroads
has been responsible to a marked degree for our increased consumption
of this commodity, and this is the very field in which the greatest
losses are incurred. There are thousands of garages scattered over the
country. Many are of unpretentious calibre, but even the smallest of
these establishments contributes its quota to the oil wastage issue.
In cleaning operations oil is drawn off from engine crank-chambers and
gear-boxes to run to waste. Rags are used for wiping and cleaning to be
perfunctorily thrown away or burned when they have become too saturated
for further use. The private motor-owner is probably as pronounced a
contributory source of waste as the small garage, because he, too,
is prodigal in his use of oil in every direction, and scarcely ever
gives a thought to the retention of the waste for treatment to recover
the oil and to release the rag for other duty, even if it be only for
making paper.

At the moment the losses in this direction may not be so heavy as they
have been in the past, for the simple reason that oil, in common with
other commodities and in compliance with the inexorable law of supply
and demand, has become more expensive. As the price rises the tendency
to be sparing and careful becomes more marked, which only serves to
prove that cheapness is the primary incentive to waste.

Wherever machinery has to be kept steadily and rhythmically moving
oil is indispensable, so that it is not a difficult matter, when we
recall the immense quantity of machinery which is kept running in these
islands to maintain our industries, and to furnish our homes with
such amenities as water, gas, and electricity, to recognize that our
consumption of this article must necessarily run into huge figures.
Our imports do not extend the true index to our dependence upon this
article, because appreciable quantities thereof are derived from
domestic sources of supply, such as coal and shales.

Machinery is insatiable in its hunger for oil. This circumstance,
combined with the increasing price of the article, has been responsible
for the display of striking fruitful thought and experiment in the
discovery of effective substitutes. This is particularly noticeable in
our machine-shops. A lubricating agent must be utilized to facilitate
the cutting of metals. Oil is admittedly the most efficient and best
suited for the purpose, but many excellent compounds have been evolved
to consummate the desired end and to conspicuous advantage. In one
machine-shop the consumption of oil by the large automatic tools became
so heavy as to prompt experiment. Many expedients were evolved and
submitted to practical test, but they failed from some peculiar cause
or other. However, perseverance brought its due reward. A substitute at
last was found, with the result that oil for cutting was abandoned. By
the change over the firm in question succeeded in effecting a saving of
£30--$150--per month on each large automatic machine it had in use by
the supercession of oil for cutting.

Doubtless opportunities for substitutes still exist in many other
directions, but commercial rivalry under normal conditions, with
enhanced prices prevailing in regard to costs of production, has not
yet been sufficiently encountered to compel the use of the substitute
in preference to the ostensible staple to secure manufacturing
economies. But changes will, and must of necessity, be recorded as the
struggle for trade develops.

In order to encourage the more economical use of oil in industry
many interesting and to a certain degree efficient devices have been
introduced. But for the most part these apparatus are devoted to the
filtering of what may be described as dirty free oil. They scarcely
venture beyond the removal of whatever impurities may be associated
with the product in the suspensory form. They do not attempt to
reclaim waste oil. Such timid treatment is readily explicable. Oil is
a somewhat sensitive product. Its inherent qualities may be easily
impaired. For example, oil prepared essentially for lubricating
purposes must be possessed of specific qualities, of which viscosity
is one and the most important. Then the requirements of lubricating
oil fluctuate so widely. An oil designed for use with a high-speed
engine, such as the petrol motor, is not adapted to the lubrication of
a slow-moving steam engine. Yet the depreciation of one single quality
in any one grade is adequate to render the oil unsuited to the purpose
for which it has been specially prepared.

The consumption of lubricating oil by the authorities during the war
ran into imposing figures, and the liability to waste was proportionate
to the consumption. Aeroplane engines and lorry motors, together with
their auxiliary gearing, were in a constant condition of overhaul.
Every time an engine or gearbox had to be dismantled many gallons of
oil had to be drawn off. Consequently the handling of this enormous
quantity of material to frustrate waste demanded special consideration,
inasmuch as the oil could not be put back into the machinery after the
latter had been reassembled. The authorities solved the problem by the
perfection of an organization for the collection of this oil, which
was returned to the oil-refinery to be re-conditioned, that is to be
cleaned thoroughly and to have its original properties restored. By the
observance of this practice of turning old oil into new the country was
saved huge sums.

But there is a vast difference between official and civil conditions.
So far as the former is concerned it was a comparatively simple matter
to introduce an efficient organization to cope with the problem, while
the waste oil was recovered in bulk, the hospitals for treating the
engines of the aeroplanes and motor vehicles being centralized. It is
the degree to which facilities for satisfying the civil demand are
scattered which renders collection and handling of the waste along
inexpensive lines so perplexing. It might be satisfactorily overcome
if each garage and private owner undertook to maintain a waste-bin and
to commit all oil-soddened rags thereto for periodical collection by a
centralized authority, either municipal or private. The waste would be
obtainable at a low figure, possibly free, inasmuch as the majority of
garage owners would only be too glad to be rid of it. Possibly it would
be found profitable to strike a bargain along the lines of free waste
in return for the de-oiled rags, particularly if they were dusters or
cloths. In this event the waste oil exploiter would only be called upon
to incur the expense of collection and the treatment of the spoil. The
return of the cloths would not entail further expense, because they
could be returned in exchange for another consignment of waste. The
vehicle would have to make the journey in any event, and it might just
as well make the outward trip laden as empty. It is quite possible,
moreover, that the garage would be readily disposed to pay a slight
charge for the cleaning of this material, particularly of cloths,
so long as the sum was attractively below the price ruling for new
supplies of the article. To the waste exploiter the value of the oil
recovered should be adequate to defray all expenses of collection and
treatment, and then leave a handsome profit capable of accretion from
the disposal of the cleaned rags, which the garage did not require, for
paper-making. It is merely a question of enterprise and organization,
and in a large centre could be rendered a highly attractive and
profitable venture.

This fact is borne out by the experience of private firms. Of course,
it is essential that the volume of spoil handled should be of
sufficient bulk to keep the plant installed for the reclamation of the
oil going to its full capacity, or to one approaching the maximum. This
is possible in the case of a large private company, such as a railway,
electric-generating station, or even industrial plant.

One of the largest motor omnibus companies in the world was induced to
consider the possibilities of this issue, and finally was induced to
make the experiment. The “Iwel” plant in question was designed to turn
out 6 tons of clean dry rags per week. This may seem to be an enormous
quantity to accumulate during a period of seven days, but it must be
pointed out that the company in question maintains 2,000 to 3,000
public vehicles upon the roads, as well as several garages and repair
shops.

The first three months’ experience served to bring home the economic
advantages accruing from the scientific exploitation of this form
of waste. During this brief period the company reclaimed 67 tons of
rags for further use, the value of which at the time was set down at
£1,007 7s. 1d.--over $5,000--while from this waste 4,080 gallons of
oil, valued at £59 10s.--$297.50--were recovered. Here was a distinct
gross saving of £1,066 17s. 1d.--$5,334--which figure was increased
to £1,489 15s. 7d.--$7,449--on the credit side by the delivery of new
rags to depots valued at £419 12s. 6d.--$2,098--and the sale of small
rags unsuited to further work for £3 6s.--$16.50. On the debit side
the heaviest expenses were incurred in connection with the purchase of
new rags, valued at £405 12s. 9d.--$2,028, cartage of the waste £152
17s. 10d.--$764.44, wages and salaries £157 15s. 1d.--$788.74, and coal
£105 0s. 11d.--$525.22. The total outgoings amounted to £1,038 16s.
7d.--$5,194.14, which left a balance of £450 19s.--$2,254.72--actual
saving recorded by the treatment of the waste. So far as the reclaimed
oil was concerned, while this was unsuited to further utilization in
its original province, it was found to form an excellent fuel for the
operation of the Diesel engines, and consequently reduced the fuel bill
on this account by a corresponding amount.

Another illuminating instance of the value of such waste is afforded
by the working account for one year, furnished by one of the foremost
British chemical manufacturers. The plant acquired in this instance
comprised two turbine centrifugal separators, one washing machine,
and one drying cabinet, the cost of which complete was £210--$1,050.
In the course of the twelve months 350,000 wiping and other cloths
were treated, and the losses incurred therewith were so slender as to
demand renewals to the extent of only 15,000 new cloths, which, at
2s. 1¹⁄₄d.--52.5 cents--per dozen came out at £131 10s. 2¹⁄₂d.--about
$657.55. The heaviest item in the operating account was wages--£132
12s. ($663). Other expenditure, including repairs, fuel, and
interest on the first cost of plant, brought the total to £324 2s.
2¹⁄₂d.--$1,620.55. From the treatment of the 350,000 cloths 125 casks,
or 5,000 gallons, of oil were recovered, which, at 10d.--20 cents--per
gallon, represented £208 6s. 8d.--$1,041.64. The saving in cotton
waste due to the soiled cloths being rendered available for further
duty, set down at 392 lb. at £4 4s.--$21--per week, came out at £218
8s.--$1,092. Thus the total value of the waste recovered was £426 14s.
8d.--$2,133.64, leaving a saving, after deducting expenditure, of £102
12s. 5¹⁄₂d.--$533.11. The results of the year’s working, therefore,
enabled the firm to recoup approximately 50 per cent. of its original
outlay, while the value of the oil recovered was only a little below
the cost of the plant. The saving in cotton-waste--material which
otherwise would have had to be provided--actually exceeded the capital
outlay upon the plant.

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, in consonance with the
general practice, formerly utilized cotton-waste in its works for
cleaning purposes. In these operations the material becomes saturated
with ordinary lubricating, cylinder, and other oils, as well as grease
from rubbing down the locomotives and parts. Some years ago it decided
to abandon cotton-waste in lieu of sponge cloths, at the same time
installing a plant for the recovery of the oil and grease from the
soiled materials. During the year these sponge cloths are passed over
and over again through the cleansing process, the operations being
equivalent to the treatment of 6,500,000 cloths, and in this manner
approximately 45,000 to 56,000 gallons of oil are reclaimed.

It does not matter to what phase of industry one turns, a certain
amount of oil is possible of reclamation from the waste employed
in connection with the conduct of the work. The volume recoverable
naturally varies widely according to the nature of the trade
pursued, and in some instances the individual yield may appear to be
insignificant. But, during the course of the year, even in a small
shop, the figure is certain to become impressive and well worth the
efforts expended, as well as the money invested in the requisite plant,
while, if the one instance be multiplied by the number of other similar
establishments distributed throughout the country, the aggregate must
necessarily be formidable. The table opposite furnishes a few actual
results in the selection of industries specified.

It will be observed that the yield varies widely according to the
industry concerned, but in every instance it will be observed that the
figure is such as to render the process profitable, not only on account
of the oil thus procured, but from the release of the waste or other
absorbent for a further spell of useful service. If the waste, or other
material, has been employed only for wiping parts, or mopping up free
oil, passage through the oil separator will suffice, but if it has been
utilized for general work and has become badly soiled, it requires
washing. The sludge resulting from this process is subsequently
passed through the oil-recovery plant instead of being thrown away,
the reclamation thus being complete, while the rags or other textiles
are passed through cabinets or other suitable facilities to be dried
quickly.

 ----------------+-----------------+----------+--------------+---------
    Industry.    |Material Treated.| Quantity.|Oil Recovered.|Per Cent.
 ----------------+-----------------+----------+--------------+---------
                 |                 |          |    Pints.    |
 Agricultural    | Cotton-waste    | 18 lb.   |     9·75     |  54·16
  machinery      |                 |          |              |
 Biscuit         | Cotton-waste[1] | 10 lb.   |     4        |  40
  manufacture    |                 |          |              |
 Colliery        |{Cotton-waste[2] | 39·75 lb.|    63        | 158·69
                 |{Cotton-waste[3] | 15·75 lb.|    10        |  57·5
                 |                 |          |              |
 Cycle and parts |{Rags            |112 lb.   |    80        |  71·42
                 |{Sponge cloths   |  1 gross |     8        |    --
 Foundry         | Cotton-waste    | 13 lb.   |    11·25     |  86·53
 Machine-tool    | Cotton-waste    |  8·25 lb.|     2·75     |  33·33
  manufacture    |                 |          |              |
 Motor-car       |{Cotton-waste    | 16 lb.   |     1·25     |   7·81
                 |{Rags            | 12 lb.   |     2·75     |  22·91
                 |                 |          |              |
 Railway         |{Cotton-waste    | 14 lb.   |     2·625    |  13·75
                 |{Cotton-waste[4] | 10 lb.   |    13        | 130
                 |                 |          |              |
 Steel and       |{Cotton-waste    |  8·25 lb.|     9·25     | 112·12
  iron-works     |                 |          |              |
                 |{Mutton cloths   |  2 lb.   |     1·5      |  75
 Tramway         | Cotton-waste    | 13 lb.   |     1·25     |   9·61
 Wood screw      | Cotton-waste    | 21 lb.   |    13·75     |  65·47
  manufacture    |                 |          |              |
 ----------------+-----------------+----------+--------------+---------


But so far as industrial operations are concerned oil reclamation is by
no means confined to the treatment of the waste and cloths. As already
mentioned, oil is freely used in working metal, acting as the lubricant
to the cutting tool. While trough facilities are provided to catch
the oil to enable it to be used again, much clings to the turnings
and other refuse. Even where works are not equipped with oil-recovery
apparatus of some description or another an attempt to secure a
proportion of what would otherwise be lost is made. The turnings are
permitted to drain. The quantity of oil recovered in this manner,
however, is very low. Certainly it does not exceed 40 per cent.,
because the oil clings somewhat readily and freely to the metallic
surface.

Accordingly, in the best equipped factories, the practice is to submit
the turnings to treatment. It is passed through the extractors and in
this way at least all but 10 per cent. of the oil is recovered. When
the solvent extraction process is exploited the recovery can be carried
as far as 99 per cent., the fraction resisting recovery thus being
extremely small. The yield obtainable from such metallic residue from
the machines is certainly sufficient to justify the treatment. In one
shop, devoted to the manufacture of cycles and cycle parts, the oil
recovery averaged 22 pints per 112 lb. of turnings treated. In another
instance, where the production of agricultural machinery is conducted,
26 lb. of steel turnings and 23 lb. 9 oz. of brass turnings yielded
1·75 and 1·125 pints of oil respectively. One motor-car manufacturing
firm recovers 1,200 gallons of cutting oil from the treatment of its
weekly accumulation of turnings. This becomes available for re-use,
and the absolute loss recorded is only about 10 per cent. In another
instance, 2,440 gallons of oil were recovered from the treatment of
41 tons 17 cwt. of metal turnings, 900 lb. of rags, and 19,300 sponge
cloths in the course of six months.

Another interesting experience in this field is worthy of record.
It was found that the sawdust in the vicinity of certain machines,
provided as an absorbent, became somewhat heavily charged with oil
splashed and otherwise discharged from the machines. The presence of
the oil-soaked refuse on the floor was construed as being a menace
to the establishment, the hazard of fire being regarded as thereby
increased. Accordingly, the floor was swept more frequently than
otherwise would have been the case, the refuse being promptly shovelled
into the furnace merely to secure its prompt and complete riddance.
The sawdust was examined by a waste expert upon the occasion of a
visit to the works, and he suggested, from the fact that oil oozed
from a handful of the sawdust when squeezed, that the waste should
be subjected to the “Iwel” oil-reclamation process, instead of being
burned. The recommendation was followed, and the volume of oil thus
recovered was found to be of surprising quantity. In fact, its value
more than defrayed the cost of the small plant which was installed to
treat it. So effectively was the sawdust found to be cleaned of the
oil as to be redistributed time after time upon the floor around the
machines. In this instance destruction of the oil-soaked refuse by fire
represented a material loss in more senses than one.

While it is only within the past few years that the possibility of
reclaiming oil from cotton-waste has aroused such earnest attention,
it must be acknowledged that many firms sought to reduce their
expenditure by submitting their cloths and waste to a laundrying
process. Of course, by this practice the textiles were recovered, but
the oil was lost, while material expense was incurred in the conduct of
the laundrying operations and the acquisition of suitable detergents.
An interesting record of the cost of the respective processes is
forthcoming from a certain firm in the South of England. It refers to
two years’ operations, the one referring to straight laundrying of the
sponge cloths and waste, while the other refers to the latest method
of dealing with such materials. Under the former _régime_ the cost for
the year was £219 9s. 2d.--$1,097.28. The heaviest items were for the
purchase of sponge cloths and waste, the figures for which were £62
17s. and £137--$314.25 and $685--respectively. The cost of washing the
dirty cloths at 7s. 3d.--$1.78--per week was £18 17s.--$94.25.

The firm then acquired a small oil reclamation and cloths-cleaning
plant at a cost of £125--$625. During the year, under the new
conditions, the expenditure on account of sponge cloths and waste
was £25 16s. and £85 15s.--$129 and $428.75--respectively, but, for
purposes of comparison, one-fifth was added to each item to counteract
the slackness encountered, and to bring the subject more in line with
the experience of the previous year. But even after making these
allowances the total expenditure for these two articles came out at
only £133 17s. 2d.--$669.28--against £199 17s.--$999.25--when the
textiles were laundered. Inclusive of all expenditure, including wages,
washing materials, power, and interest at 5 per cent. upon the first
cost of the plant, the total cost was £199 4s. 4d.--$996.8--as compared
with £219 9s. 2d.--$1,097.28--for the previous year--a saving of £20
4s. 10d.--$101.20. But under the new system 716 gallons of oil, totally
lost under the previous method, were reclaimed, which represented £11
15s.--$58.75, so that the total saving was £31 19s. 10d.--$159.98,
representing approximately 25 per cent. on the capital outlay incurred
for the installation of the plant.

In view of the economies possible from the practice of such a system as
I have described, it is somewhat surprising that manufacturing firms
should hesitate to include an oil-reclamation plant in the equipment
of their establishments. It is likewise somewhat difficult to bring
home to them what really can be achieved by the scientific treatment
of their waste. In order to popularize the practice, and to further
the observance of economies which are inseparable from industrial
operations under contemporary conditions, more than one British firm
is prepared to advance an attractive commercial proposal. This is
that the equipment should be installed and its cost defrayed out of
the actual savings effected. Thus, in the case of the installation to
which I have made reference, and which deals with the rags accumulating
from the maintenance of public service vehicles, such a procedure
was initiated. The capital expenditure involved in this instance was
approximately £2,200--$11,000, but as the plant recorded a net saving
of £450--$2,250--as a result of three months’ work, which is equivalent
to £1,800--$9,000--a year, it should be able to defray the whole of the
initial outlay within about 16 months. However, all things being equal,
it is computed that a reclamation plant submitted to the work which
I have described should pay for itself within two years. Experience
serves to support this contention, although, under the conditions
which at present prevail, the possibility is that such a gratifying
achievement would be fulfilled within a shorter period.


FOOTNOTES:

[1] From engine-room.

[2] From blast-furnaces.

[3] From power-station.

[4] Axle-box waste.



CHAPTER XIV

BY-PRODUCTS FROM THE WASTE-BIN


The exploitation of waste presents grand opportunities for pioneer
research and investigation, not only to the chemist, but also to the
layman who is fruitful of thought. In the praiseworthy determination to
turn residues to advantage there is a tendency to follow the path of
least resistance, and to apply them to the fields which most readily
suggest themselves. This policy is regrettable. The true scientific
solution to the problem lies not so much in the conversion of a refuse
into a useful article, as the discovery of the precise province in
which it is capable of giving the most lucrative and economic return.

This may appear to be a simple issue, but, as a matter of fact, it is
one bristling with perplexities, invariably involving the expenditure
of appreciable time and profound study. Some of the difficulties to be
overcome are of an extremely abstruse technical order, and so can only
be resolved through the indefatigability of the chemist, which goes to
prove that the scientist really dominates industry and commerce. This
fact was advanced many years ago, but it is only really acknowledged
to-day.

A specific trade yields a conspicuous volume of residue of a
distinctive character. From its composition and general characteristics
it appears to be eminently adapted to a certain duty. But the chemist
attached to the industry for which the waste is provisionally
ear-marked delves into the problem, only to find that it is totally
unfitted for what seemed to be an obvious application. He may even
go so far as to assert his doubts as to the material possessing
qualifications for any known use, owing to its unfavourable nature, or
because application may prove to be too costly. In such an event that
residue must remain an apparently redundant product until a possible
field for its utilization happens to be found.

A case in point may be cited. In the manufacture of boots for the
Services enormous quantities of trimmings accumulated, owing to the
specifications relative to the selection of skins for official needs
being more rigid than obtains for footwear designed for civilian
use. These trimmings proved to be quite useless to the trade, and
so endeavour became concentrated upon the discovery of some other
attractive utilitarian duty for them.

The main objection to this residue--curried leather--was the grease.
It was decided to remove it--a relatively simple and commercially
practicable operation. But in solving the one problem another, every
whit as perplexing, was precipitated. The degreased leather could
be used, but what was to be done with the extracted grease, the
contribution of which was imposing? In appearance this grease resembles
the dubbin used for dressing footwear. Seeing that it was recovered
from _new_ leather the thought was entertained that this grease might
be used in lieu of, or at least to supplement the supplies of, the
conventional dubbin.

When the chemist took the proposal in hand he speedily shattered all
hopes of turning the grease to such account. He produced an analysis
which proved that the grease, instead of being a leather preserver as
had been anticipated, was really a leather destroyer. The fatty acids
were too predominant. Forthwith that grease had to be abandoned as a
potential dubbin substitute.

Yet the chances are a thousand to one that the chemist will succeed in
indicating a profitable use for this reclaimed fat from unused curried
leather, because with war we have acquired wisdom. We are not so ready
to throw away a substance just because we happen to be ignorant of an
immediate industrial application therefor. Rather are we disposed to
put forth a little exertion to strive to adapt, or to create, some
useful range of service for it. There are hundreds of heads at work
throughout the country attacking just such problems as the recovered
grease from leather, and, consequently, from such a distribution and
concentration of fertility of thought, it is only reasonable to
suppose that such issues will ultimately be fathomed satisfactorily to
one and all.

Such close union of brain power and ingenuity is not confined to
any one industry. The search for the most promising fields for
waste-products is far too fascinating. Even the private member of the
community is taking a hand in the great game, and is contributing, in
varying degree, to the widespread success which has been, and still is
being, recorded.

The rural housewife, in her lonely remote home, contributes to the
amenities of country life by bottling her own fruits, following this
practice to avoid wastage arising from a glut of produce in her own
garden, or in her appreciation of the prolific luscious contributions
offered by the wild hedgerow. She knows that the rubber rings with
which the bottles are sealed can only be used once. Hitherto, she has
always thrown the spent rings into the fire to get rid of them. Now,
true housewife that she is, she reasons that surely these rings, while
useless to her for fruit bottling, are suitable for some other equally
important purpose. Forthwith she makes inquiries to ascertain the
quarter in which they are likely to find favour, even if it be only to
swell the scrap-rubber melting-pot.

The closely observant student of the countryside, during his autumnal
rambles through the copses and spinneys, reflects upon the profusion of
the hazel-nut, and the circumstance that this crop is permitted to fall
to the ground to rot, or to suffer only partial appropriation by the
thrifty squirrel. Surely, he ruminates, such wild fruit possesses some
commercial value. The shell can be turned into a high grade charcoal
for the laboratory, while the nut itself is rich in oil, which it ought
to pay to extract, leaving a residue to offer an excellent winter-feed
for cattle. As he ponders upon the problem the fact dawns upon him
that the country is rather more disposed to import vast quantities of
a similar product, derived from the coco-nut, palm kernels and other
exotic fruits, than to exert itself a trifle to turn its domestic
resources to account.

It is useless for him to try to rouse the country to realize the wealth
it is allowing to slip through its fingers. Any suggestion concerning
the recovery of the hazel-nut meets with the instant retort that there
is no organization available to conduct the requisite collection
of the nuts in due season, and that the end would not justify the
means, owing to the time, labour, and expense involved. But when we
come face to face with stress such potential wealth of wild rural
Britain meets with recognition. Was it not stringency which prompted
the harvest of the blackberry crop in 1918 to avert the threatened
shortage of jam? Yet the very success which attended the gathering of
the blackberry crop, and the zest with which the task was pursued by
the juvenile section of the population of the country, should suffice
to indicate that the hazel-nut might just as profitably, easily,
cheaply, and efficiently be gathered to swell the output of margarine
or to be turned to other industrial account. Surely, by the exercise
of enterprise and thrift in this direction, we might be able to reduce
our expenditure of upwards of £16,000,000--$80,000,000--a year upon
oils and materials for the preparation of edible foodstuffs for both
man and beast to a certain degree, and thereby foster additional
native industries. If further testimony be required to demonstrate the
facility with which such a wild home-product might be secured were
collection attacked along the proper lines, does not the acquisition of
the horse-chestnut crop of the country in 1917 suffice?

The photographer is another lamentable, albeit unconscious, contributor
to the great wastage problem. There are hundreds of thousands of
enthusiastic amateurs scattered up and down the country. Their
consumption of glass negatives and films during the course of the year
runs into colossal figures. Yet of the millions of exposures which are
made how many can be construed into successes, or, if satisfactory,
need be retained for any prolonged period? If preserved the negatives
accumulate at an alarming rate, to present exasperating posers in
regard to their safe storage.

What becomes of these ruined and superfluous negatives? So far as the
films are concerned there is no mystery. They meet an unmourned fate
in flames. But the glass negatives are somewhat more troublesome to
scrap. Some idea of the immensity of the hoards of negatives possessed
by both amateur and professional photographers was revealed during the
war. The stupendous production of anti-gas masks was responsible for
huge inroads upon our glass manufacturing facilities. When the United
States of America entered the arena, and concluded arrangements in this
country for the supply of this indispensable article of equipment to
the American troops, the demand for suitable glass was forced up to
such a level as to tax our producing capacity to a supreme degree.

The glass was required to furnish the eye-pieces to the masks. These
were circular in shape, and about 2¹⁄₂ inches in diameter. Each
eye-piece was made from two discs of glass which were superimposed,
with a thin layer of xylonite between. The last-named was introduced
to extend enhanced safety to the fighting men. A ricocheting shell
splinter might strike the goggle, shattering the outer layer, but the
inner section might possibly escape all injury. Even if the blow were
sufficiently severe to smash both sections of a single eye-piece the
goggle was not certain to be shivered like the window-pane struck by a
stone. The intermediate layer of xylonite nullified the force of the
impact to a striking degree, any starring that might be communicated to
the inner disc not necessarily being in line with that produced on the
outer glass, except, of course, in instances of a direct hit. Moreover,
the glass was deprived of its characteristic tendency to splinter under
a blow, owing to the intervening thin film of xylonite. Photographers
will appreciate the situation from their experience with their glass
negatives. When dropped the glass may be smashed into a hundred
fragments, but they are invariably held in position by the attached
film.

The glass required for this purpose had to be of a certain standard,
not exceeding one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness, and free from
flaws. The authorities discovered that photographic negatives were made
of the very material desired, and realized that here was a peculiar
opportunity to remedy the deficiency they were experiencing in regard
to the supply of new material from the accepted manufacturing sources.
Accordingly, appeal was made to all photographers to turn out their
stocks of dismal failures and negatives which need be retained no
longer, and to surrender them to the Government.

The demand was certainly pretentious. The eye-pieces were required
at the rate of 500,000 a week. As two quarter-plate negatives were
required to produce a single goggle--four for each mask--it will be
seen that 2,000,000 discarded quarter-plate negatives were sought
weekly to keep pace with demand. Of course, larger-sized plates enabled
the discs to be cut more economically, but it is the quarter-plate
which has the biggest vogue among the huge army of amateur photographic
enthusiasts, owing to questions of expense, and so appeal was
especially made for plates of this size, in the feeling that here was
the richest mine to be tapped.

The negatives were stripped, the emulsion being dissolved from the
foundation by the aid of chemicals. In this manner the nitrate of
silver content was recovered to be turned to profitable account. The
metallic yield from the individual plate is negligible, but, under
quantitative treatment, as in this instance, the reclamation was
rendered profitable. No attempt was made to exploit the emulsion, but
there seems to be no reason why this should not have been utilized.

All trimmings from the glass in cutting the discs were carefully
garnered. These formed what is known as “glass cullet,” which was
returned to the glass-makers. Being of high quality the cullet
commanded a ready sale, the glass obtained from re-melting being used
for the fabrication of ink-bottles, salt-cellars, scent-bottles and a
hundred and one other articles in urgent request, while an appreciable
quantity was again converted into the base for further photographic
negatives.

Plates exceeding the officially inscribed thickness of one-sixteenth
of an inch were not unceremoniously consigned to the melting-pot,
but after being stripped of the emulsion, were sold to the trade for
contrivance into the _passe-partout_ photographic mounts so much the
vogue to-day among enthusiastic amateur photographers, for picture
framing, and numerous other applications for which their dimensions and
the quality of the glass rendered them eminently suitable.

Turning to another phase of industry, gloves of every description
have soared in price, irrespective of the materials used in their
production. Even those contrived from stout textile, which five years
ago were readily procurable for a few pence, commanded shillings a
pair. In this instance the rise in price was primarily due to the call
for vast quantities by the munition factories to extend a measure of
protection to the hands of the workers, more especially the women.
Toiling Britain became converted to the gauntlet habit, so pronounced
across the Atlantic, as a result of war.

As may be imagined, from the character of the work involved, these
gloves suffered speedy deterioration, becoming saturated with grease
and grime from the handling of metal and the operation of machinery
and tools. One firm found itself saddled with 112 lb. of these dirty
gloves every week, and the item “glove renewals” consequently grew
somewhat impressive. Feeling that this expenditure might be capable of
reduction, the firm sought a simple and inexpensive cleaning process
for the removal of the grease, to give the gloves a new lease of useful
life, the fact having been ascertained that the textile itself suffered
little injury as the result of a few days’ wear and tear.

Experiments were made and the requirements of the firm were met very
effectively. Not only were the gloves turned out clean and sound,
enabling them to be used over and over again until the textile was worn
out, but the oil and grease with which they were sodden was recovered.
This was cleaned and found serviceable either as “cutting oil” for use
with the tools, or as fuel oil for engines of the Diesel type.

I have previously referred to the reclamation of the grease from the
leather trimmings accruing from the manufacture of boots for the
Services. The trimmings represent pieces of good sound leather, of
all shapes and sizes, some of the fragments being of relatively large
dimensions. A selection of this waste from two large Northampton
factories was secured. It was carefully sorted. The larger pieces were
found to be useful for providing patches of varying sizes, capable
of profitable use by the trade for the repair of civilian footwear.
The larger sections of soleing leather were similarly sorted, having
been found adaptable to what is known as “packing-up” in resoleing
operations.

By the time this sorting had been completed only shreds and tatters
of leather were left. These were degreased for the recovery of the
dubbin-like fat already described, and to leave the leather quite
clean, soft, and pliable. The fragments from the uppers were again
examined, and found capable of further selection to serve as raw
material for another industry which was being sorely harassed
from the non-availability of the raw leather upon which it was
normally dependent. This was the fabrication of the tiny, circular,
serrated-edge leather discs or “tufts” used in the making of mattresses
for bedding.

This discovery proved to be extremely opportune. Leather had grown
so scarce that the normal supplies for this range of duty had been
summarily cut off. Yet mattresses cannot be made without these tufts,
and the bedding trade had been striving diligently to discover the
suitability of certain suggested substitutes, when along came the
suggestion that degreased uppers waste from the boot factories might
possibly satisfy all demands in this direction.

The ability to exploit the residue in this manner provided the Lord
Roberts’ Memorial Workshops with an additional field for activity,
of which due advantage was taken. Then it was found that the soleing
leather might be put to equally useful service. Many trades were
reduced to a quandary from the inability to obtain leather supplies
from which to make washers. This waste was found to fill the bill very
neatly, because as with boots so with washers--there is nothing like
leather. Certainly no substitute therefore has yet been found able
to fulfil the required duty so efficiently as the hide from the cow,
although there has been no lack of enterprise in this direction. The
wisps and scraps of uppers and soles of leather remaining from this
selection--mere shavings and shreds--are ground up and converted into
fertilizer.

That leather trimmings from the boot factories, hitherto regarded
as absolutely useless, are forthcoming in sufficient quantities to
fulfil the claims of the tuft and washer trades have been definitely
ascertained. The residue is far more imposing than might popularly be
conceived, especially in connection with the production of Service
boots. Organized collection alone is required to bring this source of
possible supply into contact with the market. From three factories
alone approximately 2,300 lb. of trimmings are obtainable every week.
Multiply this yield by the number of boot factories in the country, and
it will be seen that this leather waste could supply adequate material
to allow tufts and washers to be turned out in their millions during
the course of the year.

Even the manufacture of civilian footwear, especially of feminine
fancy boots, yields its quota of waste. But the contribution is not
so pronounced as with Service footwear because wider scope exists for
working up the surplus. Nevertheless, all waste, no matter what its
character may be, has a utilitarian value. The cloth remnants find a
ready market for the manufacture of paper. The cork sole cuttings,
composed of cork, with cotton and wool attached, are similarly
retrieved by the ton. Sorting enables the cork to be recovered for the
manufacture of linoleum, the cotton for the paper mills, and the woolly
component for shoddy.

Finally we get the floor sweepings--a collection of leather,
textiles, and other materials recovered by the aid of the broom. So
far as Northampton is concerned--the system probably prevails in
other boot-making centres--the practice has been for the municipal
authorities to collect these accumulations and to remove them to the
dust-destructor for incineration. This was regarded as the simplest,
cheapest, and most efficient method for their disposal.

Salvage experts examined these sweepings. They found a far more
utilitarian use for this waste. It was worth £2--$10--a ton for
conversion into fertilizer. Seeing that about 1,000 tons a year of
these sweepings are recoverable from two or three factories it will be
seen that we have been content to send £2,000--$10,000--annually up
the chimney of a dust-destructor from sheer lack of foresight and the
expenditure of a little thought and trouble during the very period when
our land is clamouring for nitrogenous fertilizers.

Before leaving the boot trade I might refer to another recent
development concerning a certain waste which is of decided interest.
Patent cuttings presented quite a different proposal from the odds and
ends of ordinary leather. The glossy finish was held to be a drawback,
because obviously it would have to be removed before the material could
be submitted to any of the purposes described. It was anticipated that
such preliminary treatment might prove too expensive to render the
recovery worth while. But a simple and cheap process for securing the
patent in the form of a fine dust--“curriers’ powder”--was found. This
left the leather free for further exploitation. Then the question of
turning the reclaimed dust to account arose. Inquiries were made, but
there appeared to be no opening for it. It looked as if this curriers’
powder would have to be set on the shelf in company with the recovered
grease against a day of brilliant discovery upon the part of the
indefatigable chemist.

But a firm specializing in a peculiar phase of activity came along. It
was experiencing distinct difficulty in finishing off the work with
which it is identified with the requisite degree of satisfaction.
Suddenly it had occurred to the technical staff that this fine dust
might possibly extricate them from the dilemma with which the firm
was confronted. The dust was submitted to trial. The tests are not
yet conclusive, but the results so far recorded have fully justified
the utilization of this material; certainly the firm in question is
disposed to concede its employment as the solution to their difficulty.
Should these expectations be fully realized there is every indication
that the demand for curriers’ powder will become exceedingly heavy, and
from a quarter which will arouse widespread surprise. The consumption
in this realm will eclipse that ever likely to be recorded in
connection with footwear. While industrial ethics preclude the mention
of the precise application in question, it may be added that it is
about as closely allied or has as much in common with boots as the use
of cheese in the production of steel.

The one overwhelming obstacle to the commercial utilization of waste
is organized and cheap segregation and collection. This difficulty is
aggravated when the refuse in question happens to be in a combined
form, that is to say, when two or three--perhaps more--widely divergent
substances are associated to produce the one article. Possibly only one
of the constituents possesses a known market, or it may so happen that
each of the component substances has a distinct market but only in its
individual form.

As a rule any waste of this character from industry is regarded with
contempt by the approved specialists in waste collection--the itinerant
merchant or the marine store dealer. Both these traders prefer to
conduct their operations with approved straight and unadulterated
materials. If the waste happens to be of the combined character, they
realize that they must expend a certain amount of time and labour in
its separation before carrying out its sale to advantage. As they are
not inclined towards such exertion they refuse to accept the residue.

It is a foolish policy and one which directly reacts against their own
interests. Such combined waste can generally be procured at a trifling
figure. The factory in which it accrues cannot afford the labour or
time necessary to bring about the separation of the constituents. Yet
when separation is completed each class of material at once attains
its true value. Resolution of combined waste into its components does
not involve any skill, while it is immaterial how roughly the task is
performed. The merchants to whom allusion has been made will also spurn
waste of undoubted market value if it has been dressed or impregnated
with another substance. They will jump at rags no matter how soiled and
loathsome their appearance. They know the dirt can be removed readily
and cheaply, but they never pause to reflect that substances used for
impregnating textiles may be eliminated just as easily. Moreover,
unlike dirt, the recovered dressing may possess a distinct commercial
value in itself.

Waxed flannel is a recognized commodity, and, in fabricating articles
therefrom, appreciable quantities of trimmings are obtained. One firm
was in a quandary as to the disposal of this waste. No rag-and-bone
merchant would touch it. The firm was quite prepared to sell the
refuse at a low figure, fully confident that it could be turned to
some profitable purpose. The material was investigated, and the
separation of the wax from the woollen base was found to offer no
supreme or expensive difficulty. Yet the extraction of the wax made all
the difference in the intrinsic worth of the waste. At that time the
de-waxed flannel fetched 85s.--$21.25--a hundredweight, while the wax,
which was a high-grade product, was also of distinct value because it
was available for re-use.

A similar problem cropped up in connection with oil-skin trimmings
resulting from the manufacture of garments and other articles. The
factory concerned stated that the waste was somewhat pronounced from
the magnitude of its business, but what to do with it was beyond their
knowledge. Experiment proved the separation of the oil to be an easy
matter, and so the release of the cotton textile was secured. In the
degreased form the trimmings fetched from 50s. to 60s.--$12.50 to
$15--a hundredweight at the time, while the oil was also a valuable
by-product and was readily absorbed by industry at a favourable figure.

It is a moot point whether any other textile enters so extensively into
industry in some form or other as cotton. Consequently cotton refuse
is recoverable in immense quantities from the factories and workshops
where this textile is converted from the piece into garments and other
utilitarian articles. These trimmings for the most part are unsoiled,
but equally imposing are the contributions from the domestic rag-bag
and the refuse bins of other trades, whence the residue is forthcoming
in a more or less soiled condition. But a simple cleaning process
renders it suitable for further use. Should all possible or promising
applications be exhausted to no effect then this residue can always be
absorbed by the paper-mill. The paper-making industry may truthfully be
described as the salvor’s sheet-anchor; certainly there is no excuse
for consigning any cotton fabric to the flames while the paper-maker’s
craft flourishes.

But in the majority of instances this waste, as already mentioned, is
associated with some other substance, for the simple reason that it
constitutes an ideal inexpensive base, or foundation, for carrying
the medium desired. Take the rubber mackintosh sheeting as a case in
point. Here the cotton sheet foundation is impregnated with rubber to
secure the desired waterproofness of the material. But the trimmings
need only to be submitted to a solvent treatment to bring about the
removal of the rubber, when the cotton base at once becomes released
for the paper-maker. The rubber is also retrieved to advantage because
it is quite pure. Emery cloth, which has been discarded as too worn for
further use, may be similarly treated, the recovery in this instance
being of triple value when conducted upon a large scale, comprising
respectively the emery powder, the oil, the fabric base, and possibly
the metallic dust.

The extraction of nicotine from tobacco is a flourishing industry. This
trade has been built upon the commercial utilization of waste, the raw
material comprising tobacco declared as unsuitable for the generally
recognized commercial applications. The nicotine is extracted for the
preparation of insecticides and other commodities for which the juice
is eminently adapted.

To obtain the nicotine the discarded tobacco is placed in linen bags.
Subsequent treatment follows certain lines. As may be imagined, owing
to the extremely oleaginous or gummy character of the juice and grease,
these bags become clogged during the extracting process. In course
of time they become so saturated as to be unfit for further use, not
through any failure of the actual fabric, but because the fine mesh
of the material has become choked. Owing to their admitted repulsive
character the bags were thrown away or burned.

One firm specializing in this industry accumulated soiled bags to the
extent of approximately 2,000 per month. It had never contemplated the
feasibility of subjecting them to any treatment, probably because new
bags were relatively cheap. But, as a result of the national demand
for linen for more vital purposes, and the exceeding scarcity of the
basic raw material, which had the effect of sending the price of flax
from £54 to £280--$270 to $1,400--per ton, the idea of recovering
the bags assumed more pressing significance. A sample was taken and
submitted to a degreasing process. It was discovered that the combined
action of steam and centrifugal action speedily separated the clogging
gummy constituents from the fibres of the linen. When examined after
treatment the bags were found to be quite free from every trace of the
nicotine, and it would have been difficult for the uninitiated ever
to have identified them with the industry of nicotine extraction. The
tobacco juice was recovered in appreciable bulk, but what was far more
important was the reclamation of the bags. In the cleansed condition
they were worth from £20 to £40--$100 to $200--per ton.

To enumerate all the industries from which odds and ends of
cotton-waste are derivable would demand too much space. There are
stalks and ends of plumes from the fabrication of artificial feathers,
tangled bundles of loose tatters, fragments of silk in a thousand
and one forms, mercerized and natural, and so on. The yield from a
single factory or workroom may be trifling, perhaps, while there is
the rag-merchant to hand to take delivery of this residue. A firm
may readily concede the preservation of its waste until it assumes a
formidable bulk to be more troublesome than it is worth, as well as
littering the factory or occupying space which can be put to more
valuable account. So it generally throws the residue into the furnace,
but the utilization of such waste as fuel represents the most costly
method of disposal which could be practised.

The losses arising from such action are immense and deplorable, more
especially when it is remembered how easily and readily they might be
avoided. It is somewhat consoling to reflect that, to-day, despite
the many perplexities involved, the salvage of this refuse is being
attacked along serious lines. Factories and workshops are beginning
to appreciate that these residues can always command good money
from the pulp-makers, the result being that much less residue is
being lost through the too handy furnace than formerly. Parings from
ladies’ velour hats, felt trimmings, odd pieces from billiard-table
cloths--woollen fragments in a thousand different forms are now finding
profitable utilization. All such waste is being snapped up greedily
by the shoddy mills. During the war some of this waste was somewhat
freely absorbed for carrying out elaborate camouflage schemes to screen
the movements and disposition of troops, guns, and transport from the
prying eyes of the enemy, but to-day it is all being released for
the reproduction of clothing material, blankets, and other articles
innumerable--all of far-reaching import to the community.

My Lady, when she contemptuously discards her straw hat, does so
without venturing a thought as to its possible further value, except,
perhaps, as a lighter for the kitchen fire. But the abandoned headgear,
together with the straw refuse plaiting from the factory, now possesses
a market apart from that for making paper. It is being used extensively
for stuffing the backs and seats of cheap furniture. During the period
of war this waste was found suitable for another mission and one
which still obtains. This was as a substitute for wood-wool, which
virtually disappeared from the market. Wood-wool is prepared from wet
wood, and, naturally, a certain period of time must elapse to allow
it to dry before it can be set to its designed service. When wood was
cheap and plentiful this delay presented no handicap, manufacture
being continuous, but during hostilities wood became counted among the
luxuries of commercial life. It was far too valuable to be shredded
into wool, except in severely limited quantities, to act as packing.

As a result of the experiment induced by stringency, plait from
old hats, and the factory waste, were found to be quite as good as
the wood-wool in this capacity. The colour of the straw, faded or
otherwise, constitutes no disadvantage. Consequently, to condemn
the abandoned summer friend of the head to serve as a fire-lighter
represents approximately its least economical application, although it
may come as an equal surprise to learn that the perfect dream of the
milliner’s creative faculty may reappear as the protective covering
to chocolate and confectionery during transit from manufactory to the
retailer in its familiar wooden box.

Discarded umbrella coverings may not appear to possess any further
attraction except to the paper-maker. But the waste-expert declares
otherwise. A flaw in the silk covering or possible damage wrought while
attaching it to the frame no longer constitutes a passport for the
material to the dust-bin or flames. Finger-stalls and eye-shades may be
contrived from this waste. For making eye-shades it is only necessary
to cut a piece of cardboard, likewise retrieved from the waste-bin, to
the desired size and shape. Then, by the aid of a little glue the silk
section cut from the abandoned umbrella covering may be fastened to the
cardboard base.

During the course of the year thousands of tons of string are made
in these islands. What becomes of it all? One industry utilizing
this material found itself saddled with about ten tons of odd
lengths, which, thrown into the waste-bin, became a tangled mass. The
bewildering array was examined by an expert. He found that whereas some
of the pieces were of only a few inches, others ran to three, four and
even more feet in length. He contemplated the pile and concluded that
it would never pay to unravel the tangle. It was a task calling for
weeks of labour and infinite patience.

His first inclination was to hand over the bulky pile to the
paper-mills to be pulped. But further consideration of the quantity of
the long lengths of string in that junk heap prompted an alternative.
String, neatly prepared in large balls, is furnished to prisons to
serve as raw material to the prisoners engaged in the overhaul
and repair of bags. Why not send this collection of waste to the
penitentiaries? There the time occupied in unravelling the tangled
jumble is of minor importance. Prison labour does not count, while the
task is no less fruitful than that of picking oakum. Forthwith the
string was forwarded to these establishments, and was found to meet
the purpose very satisfactorily. Not only did this waste release an
appreciable quantity of new string for more valuable applications, but
it also enabled an appreciable saving in cost of bag repairs to be
recorded, while the work was just as neatly and efficiently fulfilled
with the odd lengths as with new string.

In another case a farmer of a thrifty turn of mind saved all the odd
lengths of binder twine accruing from the use of the self-binder to
harvest his crops. When untying the sheaves for threshing he threw the
lengths into a bin, and in this way amassed quite a respectable pile.
It was promptly acquired by paper-makers who paid him 25s.--$6.25--a
hundredweight. This satisfactory result should prompt all our farmers
to exercise like economy in this connection. They would find it to
their financial advantage to do so. The annual consumption of binder
twine in these islands runs into big figures. In 1917 we imported
115,086 hundredweights for which we paid £417,168--$2,085,840--while
in the previous year the figure was 212,639 hundredweights valued at
£550,104--$2,750,520.

To assist in the harvesting of the 1918 grain crop the Food Production
Department purchased 20,000 tons of this apparently insignificant
material to ensure farmers receiving adequate supplies. When the grain
is taken in hand to be threshed the recovery of this waste should
be an easy and simple matter. It is only necessary to provide a few
sacks to receive it. Even at 12s. 6d.--$3.12--a hundredweight it would
prove a profitable by-product to the farmer, and enable him to recoup
a certain proportion of its outlay upon this item, while it would
tangibly assist another industry. The recovery of 75 per cent. of the
above-mentioned 20,000 tons, provided through the instrumentality of
the Food Production Department, would have represented approximately
£140,000--$700,000--and have contributed towards the production of
2,500 to 4,000 tons of paper.

To indicate how organized collection influences the value of so-called
waste and its economical use, the experience of an importing house
in the City of London deserves narration. This firm accumulated an
appreciable quantity of the special packing paper with which the
wooden cases are lined. This paper is very tough and is strengthened
with thick cotton netting of open mesh, while it is also waterproofed.
The firm did not know what to do with the waste, but was reluctant to
turn it over to the paper-maker. Inquiries were conducted, to result
in the discovery that a similar paper was used for packing motor
tyres. Thereupon a motor tyre dispatch firm was approached with the
suggestion that it might find it profitable to acquire this residue.
The tyre-packers were buying the paper specially manufactured for
wrapping purposes, but test revealed that this packing case lining was
equally adapted to the duty. Thereupon it expressed its readiness to
take over all the residue from the importing house at 25s.--$6.25--a
hundredweight. Unfortunately, in this instance, the offer could only
be met immediately with some 56 lb., but if all the firms importing
from the United States and other countries were to conserve the paper
lining to the cases coming into their hands, and to dispose of it to
other trades for which its peculiar construction renders it specially
suitable, there would be a material reduction in the strain imposed
upon our domestic paper-mills, while a proportionate quantity of this
indispensable commodity would be released for other applications.

We are all familiar with the little disc of metal having a bent-over
corrugated rim and a cork lining which has displaced the glass stopper
and driven-in cork for sealing bottles. It is commercially known as
the “Crown Cork.” A slight angular prise and the cap flies off. It
is one of those little inventions which have proved a great boon to
many trades, especially to those identified with the bottling of
beers, mineral and drinking waters. Incidentally it has proved a great
money-maker.

An observant mind discovered that the tiny cap suffers little or no
damage from its summary removal. Why should it not be used again? So
he reasoned, and conducted experiments to establish the feasibility
of such a suggestion. He has succeeded completely in his task. By a
simple, inexpensive process, which he has devised, these crown corks
can again be rendered as serviceable for their designed purpose as new
corks. As a result of his brilliant ingenuity, and saving turn of mind,
this observant and practical waste exploiter is readily disposing of
the renovated article at eightpence per gross--16 cents--which is 300
per cent. below the price of the new article.

That inventiveness in its application to economy is fascinating
and profitable is demonstrated very convincingly by the array of
contribution of sound practicable ideas which are being contributed
towards the “save the waste” problem. The potato-peelings attracted
one economist, who with this apparently useless material and no other
contrived an attractive biscuit. Another experimentor, securing a
few ounces of fat from a whale, which had been cast upon the beach
to the peril of the residents in the vicinity, converted them into a
solid white block somewhat reminiscent of candied sugar, by submitting
the fat to the hardening process. Another effort represents a bold
attempt to turn the spent tea-leaves to economical account. In this
instance this waste was mixed with another residue--sawdust--and
some inexpensive, readily combustible agent, such as naphthalene,
also waste. The mass was then pressed, and offered a presentable and
effective cheap fire-lighter.

Within the space of this volume it is impossible to exhaust the many
efforts which are being made to turn apparent waste into something
useful. Sufficient has been narrated to indicate that there is no limit
to such manifestations of ingenuity. Matter is indestructible. Properly
handled, it can be used over and over again. Now that the ball of
economy has been set rolling in grim earnest, strenuous endeavours are
being made by the thrifty and provident to redeem the English-speaking
race from the indictment of being woefully extravagant, with which it
has been freely assailed for so many years.



CHAPTER XV

THE LIFTING-MAGNET AS A WASTE DEVELOPING FORCE


Waste is precarious to handle. The very nature of the material demands
that it shall be worked up in the most economical manner. Under the
fickle influences normally prevailing upon the market, the margin
between profit and loss may suffer such attenuation from inefficient
exploitation as to submerge the factor of profit, thus endangering the
very practice of utilizing the residue. It is immaterial whether time
or labour be the adverse circumstance. The one influence can be quite
as ruinous as the other. Should the cumulative effect of the two forces
be experienced simultaneously, then the results are almost certain to
be devastating and prompt in their action. Consequently, to secure the
uttermost benefits attainable it is imperative that the most economical
and efficient methods should be employed.

This is particularly the case in the iron and steel trades. The
competition between the various nations in this manufacturing field
is excitingly keen. It must not be forgotten that, in this industry,
waste plays a very prominent part as a raw material. It may be tins
rescued from the domestic dust-bin, turnings from the lathe, a worn-out
locomotive boiler, or the battered hulk of a steamship snatched from
the jaws of the hungry seas through the ingenuity of the salvage
engineer.

In the handling of scrap and junk the designing engineer has been
strikingly ingenious, resourceful, and free with his expressions of
resource. The cranes and other mechanical handling devices, which
he has evolved, compel attention for the simple reason that they
have been introduced to secure a reduction in the cost of moving the
material. In this direction finality is impossible of attainment;
the necessity to reduce the cost factor is so urgent and continuous.
Creative effort, thus fostered, has achieved a distinct triumph during
the past few years. It has evolved a new system of dealing with iron
and steel, especially the waste, which is rapidly displacing all other
methods which hitherto have held undisputed sway. I refer to the
lifting-magnet.

It was a British mind which first conceived the idea of harnessing the
magnet to the wheels of the iron industry. Sir William Sturgeon saw no
reason why the toy of our childhood days, the pin-attracting properties
of which extended us infinite delight and provoked indescribable
wonder, should not be devoted to the movement of ponderous masses of
steel. So he made the experiment. But his noteworthy effort proved
only partially successful. It did not fulfil expectations, not because
the designer was wrong in his deductions, but because he conducted the
evolution along fallacious lines. But his failure set men thinking.
They followed up his reasonings and discovered why he did not record
success. The British pioneer had been content to accept the magnet’s
familiar form and to reproduce it upon a larger scale to fulfil his
objective. This was why he failed. For such as application as he had in
his mind’s eye a modification in design was imperative. The German and
American experimentors, who followed in his footsteps, quickly realized
this circumstance and accordingly abandoned the traditional horse-shoe
form for a magnet of flat drum-like shape.

In this modernized and materially changed form the lifting-magnet
met with instant success. The Germans were the first to recognize
its possibilities, and accordingly developed and popularized its
utilization in accordance with their characteristic organized methods,
with the result that it was not long before all the leading iron- and
steel-works of the country were equipped therewith to their distinct
commercial advantage.

So far as America and Britain, the home of the lifting-magnet, have
been concerned, progress has been slow and uneventful. The Germans set
out to reap advantage from our manufacturing apathy, and to a certain
degree succeeded. It remained for the war, with its drain upon cheap
labour on the one hand and the necessity to speed up and to increase
output on the other, which compelled us to regard the lifting-magnet
with enhanced favour. This tendency was accentuated by the urgent
requests circulated far and wide to save all waste metal and to turn
it over to the country for the production of munitions. In this manner
vast quantities of waste metal of every conceivable description were
released, which, in turn, led to a demand for handling appliances.
Under the conditions which obtained it was imperative that this
potential raw material should be handled with the utmost economy, both
of time and labour, but native ingenuity had nothing at its command to
compare with the lifting-magnet in this connection. Those firms which
had been sufficiently enterprising to equip themselves with the German
appliance found themselves in an overwhelming superior position, while
their lifting-magnets paid for themselves over and over again in the
course of a single year.

The national deficiency in supply and its far-reaching adverse effects
were remedied through the combined enterprise and initiative of a
young electrical engineer and a British manufacturer. The former had
followed the German developments very closely and had discovered that,
notwithstanding their extravagant claims, these appliances really
fell somewhat short of the mark in point of efficiency and economy in
operation. Fortified with this knowledge he had promptly designed an
appliance of this character, in which the obvious Teuton defects were
eliminated, thereby giving a lifting-magnet which represented a decided
advance upon the best which Germany could offer.

The Pickett-West lifting-magnet, so named after its designer and
manufacturer respectively, is one fully complying with traditional
British standards of production, while it also possesses many novel
features which have already emphasized their value. It is built along
robust lines, so that it completely fulfils the conditions peculiar
to its field of application. Moreover, its design can be modified
within wide limits to meet the individual requirements of the service
for which it is intended, one distinctly ingenious feature being the
model fitted with moving fingers, each of which constitutes a magnet
in itself, and wherewith the magnet is able to exercise the maximum
magnetic gripping power upon the article for the movement of which it
is being used.

Without entering into a technical description of this apparatus it
may be said to comprise, in its simplest form, an inverted dish
with a central pole-piece. Round this pole-piece is built a coil
composed of alternate layers of copper of substantial dimensions and
insulating material. The coil is enclosed within the inverted dish
and a face-plate is bolted in position. Thus the coil which occupies
the whole of the case, with a special insulating compound run in
under pressure to occupy all the vacant space such as corners and
interstices, is completely encased and safe from tampering. Suitable
terminals are fitted and are coupled up to a flexible electric cable
through which the current is led to energize the coil and to impart
the requisite magnetic energy to the lifting face-plate. When the
coil is active, naturally the magnet will readily attract any ferrous
metal which it may chance to approach, or with which it may come into
contact, and this will continue to cling to the face of the magnet
until the current is switched off. The magnet is slung upon the hook
of the crane either by chains, or bars forming a tripod terminating in
a link. It is applicable to any type of crane, whether it be of the
locomotive, jib or derrick type or overhead travelling system, and with
equal facility.

The foregoing description is merely a bald description of the
lifting-magnet in its simplest form. To secure the highest efficiency
many perplexing technical issues had to be resolved. The magnet
is necessarily of impressive dimensions and weight, circular or
rectangular in regard to the form of the face-plate according to the
nature of the work to be fulfilled, and ranging from 24 to 62 inches
in diameter. The most popular size is that measuring 52 inches across
the face. Massive construction is inevitable to enable the appliance to
withstand the rough wear and tear, as well as unceremonious handling,
to which it is exposed in the average iron-works by indifferently
skilled labour, or to meet the conditions of piece-work when operations
are necessarily conducted at relatively high pressure by the men who
are bent upon the consummation of one end--the maximum return in the
form of wages for the work accomplished.

Robust construction involves weight. Precisely what this means may be
gathered from the fact that the German 52-inch lifting-magnet weighed 3
tons, whereas its British rival, to which I am referring, weighs only
2¹⁄₂ tons and has a 20 per cent. greater lifting capacity, despite the
reduction in weight of the magnet itself. The magnet in question will
lift from 900 to 33,600 pounds--even more--according to the character
of the material to be handled, the lower figure applying to sheet-iron,
scrap, and bolts, while the other extreme refers to heavy solid steel
ingots or armour-plate.

Precisely why the lifting-magnet should have taken so long to establish
its virtues, both in this country and the United States of America,
is somewhat inscrutable, especially in the latter country which, as a
rule, is disposed to introduce time-and labour-saving appliances with
alacrity. No matter from what point of view it may be regarded, it
represents the biggest time-and labour-saver as well as money-maker yet
introduced into the steel industry.

One reason advanced for its comparatively slow adoption is rather
interesting. It was averred that to the men, accustomed as they were
to seeing loads slung by chains, the sight of a mass of steel clinging
to the face of the magnet by a force which they could not understand
verged on the uncanny. They knew little or nothing about magnets except
in the form of a toy, and could not understand that sufficiently
attractive effort could be exerted to keep the mass adhering to the
flat face of metal. The fact that the moment the current was switched
off released the load was something equally beyond their comprehension.
Forthwith they arraigned the lifting-magnet as dangerous, and, while
not openly condemning its use, declined to work in its vicinity.
Whether this was so or not has never been fathomed, but it is generally
observable that men working with such an appliance observe a wise
discretion, and refrain from working or moving beneath it. This very
respect for the apparatus has achieved one distinctly valuable result:
accidents are few and far between, even in America, in which country
respect for human safety is declared to be at zero, where the handling
of huge masses of metal is conducted by the lifting-magnet.

But, eliminating the psychological effect upon the workmen, it is
to be feared that employers were slow to visualize its advantages.
Certainly in Britain there are many employers, who, notwithstanding the
impressive array of figures advanced in its favour, and who have been
brought face to face with the economies it is able to effect, still
cling tenaciously to antiquated practices.

So far back as 1911 Mr. H. F. Stratton, in drawing the attention of
the American Foundrymen’s Association to the possibilities of the
lifting-magnet, presented some illuminating figures. At that time the
American steel industry was handling 10,000,000 tons annually by this
system and thereby was saving over £200,000--$1,000,000--a year. So
far as scrap was concerned he emphasized the opportunity it presented
in this field, because, out of an annual melt of 6,000,000 tons of
pig-iron and scrap, from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 was represented by
scrap-iron and steel.

The American railways were among the first to appreciate the
possibilities of the system. The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific
Railroad introduced the idea for handling scrap and iron in 1909. Up
to that time all scrap had been handled by hand, the cost in and out
ranging from 30 to 35 cents--15d. to 17¹⁄₂d. per ton--which, according
to the authority cited, could be accepted as applicable to all the
railways following such a practice, and to record which figure, be it
noted, demanded excellent arrangements and efficient organization. Upon
the introduction of the lifting-magnet these costs were immediately
cut down to 10 to 12 cents--5d. to 6d.--per ton, in and out, inclusive
of every expense, the figure for the actual sorting being only 4 to 7
cents--2d. to 3¹⁄₂d.--per ton. The authorities of this railway stated
that unsorted scrap could be unloaded by means of the magnet for 2 to
5 cents--1d. to 2¹⁄₂d.--per ton, while, if the scrap were sorted, the
cost came out ¹⁄₂ to 1¹⁄₂ cents--¹⁄₄d. to ³⁄₄d.--per ton! Similar work
conducted by hand labour, according to the previous practice, cost
about three times as much.

That the experience of this one railroad was not isolated was proved by
the experience of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, which
supplied Mr. Stratton with the following comparative figures for other
operations incidental to the conduct of its work:--

  Loading locomotive tyres by hand              17 cents  (8¹⁄₂d.)
     ”        ”          ”    crane with chains  8   ”    (4d.)
     ”        ”          ”      ”        magnet  4   ”    (2d.)
     ”    heavy casting by crane with chains    20   ”   (10d.)
     ”        ”          ”      ”     magnet     3   ”    (1¹⁄₂d.)
     ”        ”          ” hand                 almost impossible.

It will be observed that the handling charges by the magnet were
one-half of those by the crane with chains in connection with the
locomotive tyres, and one-seventh in the case of the heavy castings,
while the advantage over manual effort in the case of the first-named
was no less than 32·5 per cent. Little wonder that, during the past
nine years, the utilization of the lifting-magnet in connection with
the handling of iron and steel in the United States has advanced by
huge strides. To-day it constitutes an integral part of the wrecking
equipment of every leading American railroad. After the large debris
has been cleared up, the lifting-magnet is swept over the ground to
pick up nuts, bolts, nails, screws, and any other odds and ends of a
ferrous nature which have escaped recovery by the conventional methods.

So far as these islands are concerned, considerable progress has been
made during the past five years in regard to its adoption. Extended
use has not been confined to the handling of metal in our steel-works,
but for the reclamation of iron and steel cargoes which were lost as a
result of the German submarine activity. Its employment in the salvage
field was suggested as the result of the sinking of a barge carrying
ingots of very special steel sunk at the entrance to a port on the
East Coast. Although the wreck lay in relatively shallow water, it was
speedily discovered that salvage by the orthodox methods would prove
somewhat uncertain, owing to the awkward position of the sunken barge
and the difficult tidal and other conditions.

The possibility of retrieving the valuable steel by magnet was broached
to Mr. F. N. Pickett, the inventor of the British lifting-magnet,
to which I have referred. A certain doubt upon the point existed in
official circles from the knowledge that the German appliance could
not be employed in such duty, owing to the coil not being impervious
to water, which of course nullifies the utilization of the electric
current. But the British magnet, being built upon different lines, is
watertight, and so the designer expressed complete confidence in his
apparatus being suited to the task. The magnet was secured, and divers
went down to blow open the side of the barge to permit the magnet to
reach the cargo.

The magnet was lowered and was found to work with as much ease and
simplicity as under conventional conditions in the steel-works. It
was plunged into the hold of the invisible craft, and subsequently
the sea-bed on either side was swept therewith. So successfully
and completely did it fulfil its unusual task that every ingot was
retrieved, and that within a very short time. The sinking of the barge
occasioned little damage beyond a slight delay in the delivery of the
material, which was valued at £150--$750--per ton. True, the barge was
lost, but that was an insignificant disaster, and but poor recompense
for the expenditure by the enemy of a torpedo costing possibly
£1,000--$5,000.

The success of the magnet in this instance has been responsible for its
utilization in other fields of submarine endeavour. A freighter was
sunk with a valuable steel cargo aboard. The vessel was examined and
found to have settled upon an even keel. Divers descended and opened
the hatchways, while sections of the decks were cut away to expose the
cargo. The magnet was then brought into action, and the cargo unloaded
as readily as if moored alongside the dock. This success in the open
sea has been responsible for the salvage of similar cargoes which have
been lost around our coasts. So far as the Pickett-West lifting-magnet
is concerned, there is no obstacle to its use in this field so long
as sufficient swing can be imparted to the suspended apparatus to
ensure sweeping of the wreck, and up to the depth corresponding
to the pressure of the insulation in the coil drum. Seeing that
this is introduced at a pressure of 120 pounds to the square inch,
the lifting-magnet can be safely used in water up to a depth of
approximately 250 feet without the insulation collapsing under the
imposed water-pressure, and this is a depth far beyond that at which a
diver can work. But, taking the wrecks lying within water accessible
to the diver, appreciable recovery should be possible.

It is generally conceded, in view of the success which has already been
achieved, that there is a promising future for the apparatus in this
field so long as it is designed and constructed along correct lines.
The cost of operations will be reduced therewith very materially,
and the strain imposed upon human effort as represented by the diver
will be decreased very markedly. Instead of salvage operations being
confined to an hour or two daily, according to the velocity of the
tides and currents, it will be possible to continue work during the
round twenty-four hours so long as the weather is propitious. The
operator will be able to sweep the wreck from end to end, as well as to
scavenge the sea-bed by swinging his magnet, confident in the knowledge
that magnetic metal will be trapped in the process for haulage to the
surface. Even if ships should prove impossible of recovery intact there
is nothing to prevent their reclamation piecemeal. Dynamite will reduce
the wreck to scrap of weight and size within the lifting capacity of
the apparatus, and at the price obtaining for such junk the expedient
should prove profitable. So we should be able to retrieve a certain
and imposing proportion of the wanton waste incurred by the ruthless
attacks of the enemy upon our sea-going traffic.

It has even been suggested that the magnets might be employed to
salvage many of the German submarines which we have sunk, more
particularly the coastal type of craft. These were relatively small,
and for the most part were sunk in comparatively shallow water. In the
water-logged condition the dead load to be handled is approximately 800
tons. If desired these craft could be lifted to the surface intact, or,
if in pieces, retrieved in sections for sale as scrap. The inventor
has elaborated his plans, which involve the suitable disposition of a
certain number of magnets over the sunken submarines. He suggests that
eight magnets would be adequate for the task. Seeing that each magnet
has a pulling power of 250 pounds per square inch of its surface,
the aggregate haul which could be brought to bear upon the submerged
craft simultaneously by the eight magnets would be at least 1,920
tons, or twice the total weight of the submarine. With such a lifting
effort available it should be possible to drag the wreck from even
the extremely tenacious North Sea mud. The question arises, although
recovery of such waste is admitted to offer every attraction, as to
whether the German submarines are worth the trouble, even if they
be sold as scrap. In view of the price which the surrendered boats
realized this is extremely doubtful, although experienced salvage
engineers admit that even if prevailing scrap prices were obtained the
venture would prove profitable, that is in the strict commercial sense.

As a scavenger for magnetic metals the lifting-magnet cannot be
excelled. It is far more thorough than hand-labour, and will fulfil its
mission more completely than any other mechanically-operated device to
this end. Lowered to twenty-four inches of the ground it may be swept,
or swung, to and fro in the certain knowledge that any stray scraps of
iron and steel will readily jump the intervening space in response to
the strong magnetic influence exerted. In this manner a wide area can
be completely cleaned of all stray iron and steel fragments, much of
which would otherwise be lost within a few moments.

The recognition of the peculiar qualities of magnetic attraction
has led to an interesting development which should prove capable of
extensive application and to distinct commercial advantage in our
steel-works. As is well known, the slag is run off separately to be
dumped. But this slag often carries an appreciable quantity of metal
in a divided state. Hitherto this has been wasted, but it has been
found that, if the slag be broken up, by the aid of a magnet and
“skull-cracker” ball, and the magnet be swept over the mass, that the
fugitive metal can be retrieved and in sufficient quantities as to
render the operation profitable.

For the movement of iron and steel in factories it is difficult to
excel. A consignment of kegs of nails, bolts, nuts, screws, or some
other small articles requires removal to or from store, or to vehicle.
Under normal conditions the practice would be, either to stack them
on trolleys or to pack and sling them from cranes, the loading
constituting the adverse factor from the appreciable time it takes.
If the magnet be used no such preliminaries of any description are
necessary. The magnet is merely lowered, the current switched on, and
the next moment as many loaded kegs as can squeeze themselves upon the
face of the magnet may be lifted. The attractive effort is sufficient
to exert its influence through the covers of the kegs to act upon the
metal within. Moreover, if the kegs be small, more than one layer
will be found possible of removal at a time, inasmuch as the depth to
which the magnetic influence can be exerted--“digging” effort as it is
called--has been found to be equal to the diameter of the magnet face.

For handling metal waste in the form of turnings or swarf it is far
cheaper and quicker than any other known process. When the magnet is
dropped upon a pile of such residue and is then raised, it will tear
away a huge chunk of the heap--a ton or more of tousled and ragged
ribands of steel jostling and clinging tightly to one another and
to the magnet-face like a swarm of bees to the branch of a tree. It
will successfully handle, and for no heavier cost, swarf which defies
handling by any other means, except at prohibitive expense. At a
certain steel-works in the North of England ten tons of matted steel
turnings were permitted to stand for several weeks in a railway truck
in an open siding. When it was decided to unload the vehicle the
turnings were found to have rusted and to have settled down into as
tightly packed a heap as could be imagined. The normal practice was
for men to shovel such material with their forks into the charging
boxes, but they found that they could not force their tools into this
formidable heap. The mass was surveyed and the hopelessness of coping
promptly therewith was admitted. Under manual labour the job would
occupy several days, even if it could be successfully handled at all,
upon which point considerable doubt prevailed.

It was decided to try the magnet. It was brought along on its traveller
and lowered into the truck. The winding drum was set going, and there
was a fearful snapping and snarling. The magnet refused to release its
hold, while the metal, being tightly jammed and packed, offered a stiff
resistance to the irresistible attraction of the magnet. But, within
a few moments, the magnet tore itself free with some 3,360 lb. of the
tangled rusted steel clinging to its face. Within six minutes, and by
half-a-dozen lifts, the vehicle was cleared of its ten tons of scrap.

While the circular form of magnet is that generally favoured,
variations are made to comply with different requirements. Some
articles, such as steel rails, pipes and iron rods, from their
distinctive shape, only present an extremely limited surface upon which
the magnetic pull can be exerted. As a rule, to enable such articles to
be handled with efficiency and speed, two magnets, rectangular in form,
and spaced a short distance apart, are used. The magnets are coupled
together, but maintained a specific distance apart by spacing bars,
while they work in unison. While the area available for contact upon
each magnet is somewhat reduced, as compared with the circular type,
this deficiency is counterbalanced by the ability to apply the magnetic
lifting effort at two points.

It is doubtful whether the true money-saving possibilities of the
lifting-magnet are really appreciated. The initial outlay may appear
heavy--in the case of the British magnet to which I have referred it
ranges from £150 to £600--$750 to $3,000--according to dimensions,
face-form and lifting capacity--but this expense is readily recouped.
The lifting-magnet is not only a time-saver but it enables given
work to be accomplished with fewer men. In some instances this
displacement of labour has attained striking proportions. At one
steel-works a lifting-magnet of 52-in. diameter was installed at a
cost of £400--$2,000. It is employed for handling pig-iron, and in
this work has dispensed with fifty men. The saving in wages, which its
introduction has rendered possible, sufficed to defray the capital cost
of the apparatus during the first three months of its use.

The results recorded at another establishment are equally impressive.
A 36-in. magnet was acquired, and for one specific duty--loading
trucks--was employed for a total of twenty hours during the month.
Previous to its acquisition this work was carried out by manual labour,
and it used to demand the combined efforts of ten men for ten hours to
load the vehicle, the cost being £4--$20. With the magnet the truck is
now loaded in two hours and at a cost of 8s.--$2--this figure being
inclusive of all charges--electric current, depreciation, interest,
labour, etc. In the course of the year the magnet puts in 240 hours
truck-loading, the number of trucks dealt with during this time being
120. The saving effected by the utilization of the magnet is thus
£3 12s.--$18--per truck or £437--$2,185--per year. Seeing that the
magnet at the time of its installation cost £150--$750--it will be seen
that it pays for itself approximately three times over in the course
of each twelve months, and that upon one single range of duty for an
insignificant period of time.

Under manual conditions of handling scrap and at the current contract
trade union rate the cost is 1s. 4d.--33 cents--per ton. With the
lifting-magnet, including labour and depreciation, the cost is
only one penny--2 cents--per ton for this work--a reduction of 1s.
3d.--31 cents--per ton! At the works of the Stobie Steel Company,
Dunston-on-Tyne, the initial cost of the lifting-magnet was recovered
during the first four months it was used. This company declares that
the annual saving which its employment effects is £800--$4,000.

But the applications of the magnet are not confined to lifting and
carrying operations. As an instrument for breaking up masses of steel
too large to be handled conveniently, or to be passed into the cupola
of the furnace, it cannot be excelled, either in point of efficiency,
safety, or economy. Breaking-up is carried out by what is known as the
“skull-cracker,” which comprises a roughly-cast ball of steel which
may weigh as much as 22,400, 27,000 or even 36,000 lb. This is picked
up by the magnet and lifted to the desired height. The current is then
switched off, releasing the ball to fall and to strike the scrap-boiler
or some other cumbrous piece of junk a terrific blow.

While the “skull-cracker” has been in vogue for many years with
mechanically operated devices, and so is not peculiar to the magnet,
yet this latest development represents the highest achievement yet
attained in this particular direction. Under mechanical conditions from
four to six men are required to carry out the work successfully. With
the magnet and ball the task can be fulfilled by two men--if exigencies
so demand it can be completed single-handed by the crane-magnet
operator--while the time occupied in such essential destruction is
very much less, more efficiently accomplished and with complete
safety, because under mechanical conditions breaking-up is generally
regarded as highly dangerous work. A further advantage is offered by
this system. The “skull-cracker” can be lifted and dropped alternately
until the scrap has been reduced to suitably sized pieces, and then
the magnet, disdaining the ball, can pick up the pieces of junk to bear
them away to the furnaces without any delay.

Despite the forward strides which have been made in regard to the
adoption of the magnet in the British iron and steel trades during
the past four years, this system of handling ferrous metals is still
in its infancy. It has been neglected far too long. Yet it is a force
which in the future must play an increasing important role, because it
is generally admitted that, to offset the higher wages incidental to
production, it is imperative for manufacturers to exploit fully every
possible time, labour, and money-saving device. The magnet is one of
the most attractive contributory factors to this end, especially in
connection with the handling of iron and steel waste, that has yet been
contrived.



CHAPTER XVI

RECLAIMING 321,000,000 GALLONS OF LIQUID FUEL FROM COAL


It has been said, doubtless with a good deal of truth, that Britain
owes her manufacturing prosperity to her abundant domestic resources
of fuel. But, in the exploitation of our coal reserves, we emulate the
rat in the corn-bin. We waste quite as much, if not more, than we ever
use. The country around our collieries is disfigured with huge dumps,
among which are thousands of tons of what is really low-grade fuel.
Occasionally a tip-heap will catch fire, to burn sullenly for weeks and
months. One such large dump in the United States burned uninterruptedly
for years. This would not be possible if there were not present a large
volume of combustible matter--coal--associated with the so-called
useless material.

The colliery tip-heaps, while formidable in the aggregate, and
representing a crushing indictment against our so-called advanced
scientific attainments, merely constitute one, and a minor, tangible
illustration of the great coal-waste issue. No matter in what
direction we may turn in this colossal industry, we find evidences of
improvidence and stupendous losses in varying degree.

It is a matter for speculation whether any other raw material is so
prolific of residuals as coal. Oil is probably the solitary exception,
but then petroleum is closely allied to the solid fuel. But refuse
in regard to coal is equally ambiguous. The wastes vary so widely
in nature, while each grade of residue possesses its individual
possibilities. We are disposed to pride ourselves upon the big strides
we have made in our exploitation of these residues but, as a matter of
fact, we have barely touched the Aladdin’s lamp which it represents.

To render full justice to the coal-waste issue in all its kaleidoscopic
forms would absorb many volumes. The subject is so vast and complex. It
is my intention, within the scope of this chapter, to confine myself
to one specific substance derived from coal, one which we persistently
declined to consider in its real aspect until the fight for national
existence applied the sledge-hammer blows to drive into our heads that
we were guilty of criminal neglect. Why we should have required this
drastic force to compel us to admit our indifference towards a great
national asset it is difficult to explain. Our most formidable rival in
trade had been sparing no effort for years to achieve an overwhelming
industrial triumph therewith and to our discomfiture.

As I have previously remarked, Germany revelled in our junk piles and
rubbish-heaps. The French _chiffonnier_ never raked over the contents
of a Parisian dust-bin more assiduously than did the German rummage
among our waste dumps. He was not too proud to bear away what we
disdained and rejected. It served as food to maintain the colossal
plants, equipped with elaborate and costly machinery, which he laid
down. We, on our part, were not backward in paying him, directly and
indirectly, to work up our wastes, especially those from coal, and were
ever ready to acquire the articles manufactured therefrom and at any
price he felt disposed to quote.

While, to a certain degree, we have become wiser in our generation,
and are handling our coal resources and the residuals resulting
therefrom with less prodigality, we are still woefully improvident in
this field. The degree of waste, despite the reforms introduced, has
become accentuated essentially because of the increased magnitude of
this industry. The blind adherence to typically British methods and
ideas has led to some striking anomalies which to other nations must
appear almost incredible. For instance, the coming of the high-speed,
internal combustion motor emphasized the need for a volatile liquid
fuel. Experience proved the hydro-carbon, petrol, to be most eminently
adapted to the purpose. But Britain, as every one knows, has so far
proved to be as barren of paying petroleum deposits as is the Sahara
of cornfields. So, as we could not produce petrol, we decided to buy it
from abroad, and continue to do so to this day.

Yet we need never have bought a single gallon from a foreign country,
to keep our huge fleets of motor-omnibuses, taxi-cabs, touring cars,
lorries, vans, agricultural tractors, and motor-boats moving. If we
were as wideawake as we ought to be we should cease to buy a further
pennyworth from beyond the confines of the Empire forthwith, turning
the millions sterling we spent annually in this connection into the
pockets of our own workers and industries. It would not involve the
withdrawal of a single vehicle, and we should have the satisfaction
of knowing that we were absolutely independent of the foreigner in a
matter of most vital concern to the community--transport.

The domestic analogue to imported petrol is benzol, the volatile
hydrocarbon coaxed from our old friend, King Coal. From the motoring
point of view this derivative from the mineral fuel is capable of
fulfilling every purpose in regard to transport which petrol can or
ever will do. Why we still refrain from setting out to recover this
spirit to the uttermost ounce, notwithstanding the lessons taught by
the war, is beyond comprehension. There are some kinks in British
mentality which defy all unravelling. The exploitation of liquid fuel
from coal is one of them.

If we turn to the trading figures for the fiscal year 1913 we find
that we imported petrol to the extent of 100,588,017 gallons for
which we paid £3,803,397--$19,016,985. This money was sent out of
the country. Even our Dominions did not reap much benefit from our
liberality. Turning to the other side of the account we find that
during the self-same period we sold to foreign purchasers 30,415
gallons of motor spirit _made in the United Kingdom_, and valued at
£1,420--$7,100! Our delightfully unbusinesslike way of doing things
left us £3,801,977--$19,009,885--on the wrong side, when really we
ought to have shown a substantial balance in our favour.

Benzol is not only essential to the motor industry, but it is
absolutely indispensable to numerous other trades. Without it the
vast range of synthetic colours, marketed by the German firms, could
never have been attained. Had Germany embarked upon an economic
instead of a military war she could have forced the whole world into
abject surrender within a few months by withholding supplies of these
dye-stuffs, medicinal preparations, synthetic drugs, disinfectants,
and chemicals. This is borne out by the abnormal prices realized from
the sale of the small quantity of dyes which were smuggled across the
Atlantic to the United States of America by the commercial submarine
_Deutschland_. One small box containing 100 lb. of sky-blue colouring
realized £190 or 38s.--$950 or $9.50--a pound! Before the war the
self-same dye-stuff could be purchased readily for 2s.--50 cents--a
pound.

By making the plunge along industrial lines Germany could have brought
our cotton, woollen, silk and other textiles, paper, paint--in short,
every trade into which colourings enter--to a dead standstill within a
very short time. The United States of America, France, Italy, and other
countries would have been forced into a similar condition of stagnation
and disaster. Germany, by virtue of her unlimited supplies of these
essentials to contemporary industry, would have been in the position to
have supplied the whole world--upon her own terms. Fortunately for us,
a bloodless victory to secure world-wide domination did not appeal to
the Teuton temperament.

The official attitude, so far as this country is concerned, towards the
reclamation of the volatile liquid constituent, or waste, from coal has
always been one of negation. Contrast this tendency with that obtaining
in Germany, which set out to support private enterprise by installing a
comprehensive plant upon Government property to win 6,000,000 gallons
of benzol a year from state-owned and state-mined coal. The British
official attitude is additionally remarkable when it is borne in mind
that adequate supplies of this material are absolutely imperative to
the maintenance of our national security, because benzol constitutes
the backbone of modern high explosives.

The recovery of benzol is every whit as essential to the community of
these islands as is the provision of drinking water. It may appear to
be Draconic to compel the delivery of the last ounce of benzol from the
coal or gas we burn, but there are many other enactments in force of
a more exasperating character, and which are productive of extremely
little benefit either to the individual or the community. In this
particular instance no one would suffer in any way, because, while the
whole trend of scientific thought is towards the thorough recovery of
this valuable liquid fuel and industrial weapon, it does not hesitate
to demonstrate how the desired end can be obtained without inflicting
the slightest hardship upon the citizen.

The steel trade demands huge quantities of coke to conduct its
operations. The carbon residue from coal is preferable to the raw
mineral fuel. To meet this technical requirement special ovens have had
to be evolved to turn the coal into coke. Yet for years we carried out
this conversion and allowed the substance thrown off in the process to
run to waste. We even continue to do this to-day. It was found that the
coke could be obtained more readily and easily, as well as cheaply,
by means of what is known as the bee-hive oven. This coke-producer
attracted the attention of the interests concerned because it was
not only cheap to install but inexpensive to maintain and renew,
while it facilitated compliance with the fluctuating demands for the
coke which naturally is due to the alternating periods of depression
and prosperity in the steel trade. But we have no monument to waste
comparable with the bee-hive oven. However, it became so firmly
entrenched as to prove wellnigh resistant to progress when science
came along with an improved system yielding a coke of equal quality,
but which had the additional recommendation of enabling all the other
products arising from distillation and which formerly were permitted to
escape, to be recovered.

The virtues of the new method were conceded, but the heavier initial
expenditure which it entailed was regarded as an insurmountable adverse
feature, especially as the Britisher gave expression to another
peculiar trait in his character--would the revenue derived from the
by-products more than offset the increased costs, capital charges and
maintenance expenses? One disturbing factor demanded particularly
careful study. When the call for coke declines, and a certain number
of the ovens have to be closed down, they cannot be brought into
re-activity upon the revival in the steel trade without an overhaul.

In restoring the ovens heavy expense is incurred. The antiquated and
wasteful bee-hive oven can be renovated at a trifling price, but the
modern by-products recovery oven entails far heavier expense before
the resumption of operations. The charge varies according to the care
which has been bestowed upon its maintenance, but, if this has not
been conducted along careful lines it may easily incur an expenditure
ranging up to 15 per cent. of the original cost of the plant. This
charge, unless defrayed out of the renewals account, must be carried to
capital. In view of this circumstance the general practice has been to
install the by-product system to take care of the constant load--the
output of coke to the degree below which it cannot fall even in periods
of extreme depression--and to utilize the obsolete bee-hive oven to
take care of the fluctuations from the irreducible minimum to the
maximum. This margin being extremely wide naturally, the bee-hive still
holds sway, and so continues its wasteful reign unchecked.

To extend their field of activity and to provide an outlet for the
products of their brains the Germans made an astute commercial move.
They expressed their readiness to equip the British coking plants with
their modern by-product recovery system on condition that they were to
be at liberty to acquire the liquid residual--benzol. The suggestion
found certain favour in British eyes. The benzol was a drug on the
home market, so its shipment to Germany was regarded as the solution
of a perplexing problem. In this manner Germany secured the necessary
raw materials from the British scrap-heap to feed her dye industry and
to pile up her reserves of high explosives against the day when the
gauntlet should be thrown down. There is a tendency in certain quarters
to assail the cunning competitor, but are we rather not to blame for
our own extreme shortsightedness, lack of initiative, and indolence?

The coking-ovens, however, only absorb a portion of our total output
of coal, the annual average of which may be set down at approximately
260,000,000 tons. Subtracting 60,000,000 tons as the export figure, we
are left with a round 200,000,000 tons consumed at home. Of this figure
a round 100,000,000 tons is consumed during the year in the domestic
fire-grate.

We all revel in the blazing fire in our rooms during the winter, but do
we reckon on the cost? The volume of heat thrown into the room is but
a trifling proportion of that emitted by the glowing coal. The greater
part flies up the chimney, together with all the benzol, ammonia, and
other valuable constituents of the fuel. Immense volumes of soot pour
forth from the chimneys to pollute the atmosphere, disfigure buildings
and monuments, while the damage wrought within the rooms to fabrics,
curtains and other embellishments runs into millions sterling during
the year.

Could this waste be avoided? Certainly. The domestic fire-grate does
not possess a single virtue. It should be scrapped forthwith. Coal,
as a household fuel, should be prohibited. It should be carbonized.
Coke, when burned under the most advantageous conditions, throws off
as much, if not more heat, and can be induced to shed practically the
whole thereof into the apartment. As the alternative to coke we might
rely exclusively on gas, releasing the whole of the carbon residue,
approximately 70 per cent. of which results from the distillation of
every ton of coal for industry. If we presume an average of 10,000
cubic feet derivable from every ton of coal, then we find that the
100,000,000 tons burned annually in the household grates would give
us 1,000,000,000,000--one billion--cubic feet of gas, the whole of
which is at present being lost up the chimney. From this enormous
volume of gas, each 10,000 cubic feet of which contains on the average
two gallons of benzol capable of reclamation, we could, if we were
sufficiently energetic and enterprising, obtain 200,000,000 gallons of
benzol--twice the petrol imports for the year 1913. In comparison with
what liquid fuel we could derive from our coal the actual 41,000,000
gallons secured to-day certainly appears to be trifling.

Our methods of burning coal in the home, which is appallingly wasteful,
is equalled by the general folly investing our system of gas supply,
which is equally improvident, simply because we prefer to cling to the
obsolete order of things rather than to march with progress. Years ago,
to protect gas-consumers, a standard of value was established. The gas
had to comply with a certain candle-power standard. The unit thus was
one of luminosity. Such a system was satisfactory in days gone by, when
the practice was to use a burner and open flame of the fish-tail or
bat’s-wing shape. Then some method of standardizing gas according to
its luminous intensity undoubtedly was imperative.

But judgment of gas by its luminosity with an open burner is effete.
It became relegated to the limbo of things that were by the discovery
of Welsbach, which effected a complete and wonderful revolution in gas
illumination. His invention supplied the means of securing brilliant
illumination with heat. This may sound paradoxical, but is readily
explained. The particles of the nitrates of the rare earths, thoria
and ceria, which enter into the composition of the incandescent gas
mantle, will not emit light until they have been raised to a high
degree of incandescence. This can only be achieved by using the mantle
in conjunction with an atmospheric, or Bunsen, burner.

This invention rendered it no longer necessary for the gas to carry the
constituents which contributed to luminosity, among which was benzol.
With the mantle they are superfluous: in fact are deleterious. What
is required is a gas rich in the constituents contributing to heat.
Coal-gas, or as it is more familiarly called, town-gas, is rich in
these two essentials. They are hydrogen and methane or marsh-gas. When
burned under suitable conditions they are capable of giving off intense
heat, and the higher the degree of incandescence to which the rare
earths entering into the composition of the mantle can be raised, the
more brilliant the illumination.

Consequently the time has arrived when the standardization of gas
according to luminous power should be thrown overboard in favour of one
based upon calorific value. This was introduced to a certain degree
as a temporary expedient during the war, but it should now be made
rigid. Signs of awakening to the true state of affairs are apparent.
The research committee appointed to investigate this question has
recommended that gas should be sold according to its calorific value,
and that all gas-consuming appliances should be adapted to the new
order of things.

Should legislation be passed endorsing these recommendations it will
be possible for further huge quantities of benzol to be recovered from
our coal, or rather the gas derived from the volume of coal annually
absorbed for gas production. It is the benzol and toluene which impart
the luminous intensity to the gas, but which are unnecessary for the
production of heat. At the present moment the quantity of benzol
reclaimed from the coal absorbed by the gas-works is approximately
21,000,000 gallons a year--a fraction of what it might be.

We may safely assume that of the 270,000,000 tons of coal we draw
from our collieries every year, at least 160,000,000 tons are capable
of such treatment as will enable the volatile liquid fuel to be
recovered. Upon the basis of two gallons per ton of coal this would
represent 320,000,000 gallons of benzol, of which huge quantity all but
41,000,000 gallons are being lost under contemporary conditions. The
value of this spirit at the moment may be set down at approximately
2s.--50 cents--per gallon. Thus we are deliberately throwing away
£27,900,000--$139,500,000--a year. It is being permitted to vanish into
thin air. This figure serves to bring home what the losses arising
from the neglect of waste really represent, and also reveals our
extraordinary lack of imagination and enterprise.

Were we to recover the whole of the benzol content of coal we should
not only be able to satisfy the whole of the needs, aggregating about
150,000,000 gallons a year, of the domestic motor industry, but we
should be able to meet the requirements of the other industries
to which benzol is indispensable. There would be no need to grow
apprehensive concerning our coal-tar dye industry and the manufacture
of other products dependent upon materials derived from coal. The
British dye industry is in its infancy. At the moment its benzol
requirements are modest, being approximately 4,000,000 gallons a year.
But it is an industry which, given full opportunity, promises to thrive
and to expand amazingly, and so one may safely anticipate that its
benzol needs will advance by leaps and bounds.

Moreover, one must not forget that, as yet, benzol itself is but little
understood, because it has not received the attention it deserves from
the chemist. If we decide to exploit our coal to the extent which
prudence dictates, the wizards of the laboratory will be encouraged
to embark upon further original research, and it is quite possible
that they will reveal other and equally promising applications for the
spirit of coal.

While domestic users have not been fully alive to the possibilities of
British benzol other countries, notably France, were eager buyers of
what we ourselves failed to appreciate. We need not sacrifice this
export trade: rather we should be able to cultivate and to expand it to
a very pronounced degree.

In view of the part which benzol played in the war one hopes that
the Government will consider the situation in a more enlightened
spirit. The circumstance that we might be able to retrieve a round
£28,000,000--$140,000,000--a year should offer every inducement towards
compulsory modernization of methods in this particular province.
Benzol should be made a national issue. To compel the use of coke,
instead of coal, in the household, would go a long way to relieve the
coking-ovens and other distillation plants of all apprehensions of glut
accumulations of coke, and would tend to steady the output of this
fuel, as well as to bring about the abolition of the wickedly wasteful
bee-hive oven. Our gas standardization system should be overhauled to
ensure the sale of gas by its calorific rather than its luminous value.
The country might even do worse than to nationalize benzol, taking over
the whole of the output as a corollary to the compulsory distillation
of all bituminous coal. As the alternative it might undertake to
purchase what the trade could not sell, for naval purposes, inasmuch as
in the Senior Service the consumption of petroleum oils has reached an
impressive figure from the increasing use of oil fuel, practically the
whole of which at present has to be imported.



CHAPTER XVII

FERTILIZERS FROM WASTES


Nourishment is as essential to the land as it is to the animal kingdom.
This is particularly so in countries, such as the British Isles,
where the land has been worked assiduously, year after year, for
centuries. The co-relation between fertilizers and crop yields is too
obvious to demand other than mere mention. The main problem, in such
circumstances, is to secure sufficient quantities of the nutritive
constituents necessary, and at a price which shall render their
utilization profitable to the farmer, and enable the resultant food
products to be brought within the reach of the public at an attractive
figure.

The worship of hygiene and the introduction of practices conducing
to the enhanced health and welfare of the community have served to
deprive the land of a heavy proportion of that food which, under
primitive conditions, it freely receives. Furthermore, the contemporary
agriculturist is not content with receiving from the land just what
Nature, if left to herself, is disposed to contribute. He practises
forced or intensive measures, and in so doing naturally accelerates and
accentuates the exhaustion of the soil.

In so far as these islands are concerned--it was equally applicable to
other countries similarly affected--the stringency in natural manures
was aggravated by the acquisition of all available horse-power for
the battle-fronts as well as the need to husband straw for military
foraging purposes. So, to ensure the safety and yield of his crops, the
farmer has been compelled to fall back upon divers substances, natural
as well as chemical, or as they are more popularly termed, artificial
manures, although the word “artificial” in this interpretation is
somewhat ambiguous, seeing that the materials employed, for the most
part, enter into the scheme of Nature.

Under normal conditions British soil was liberally fed with these
chemical fertilizers, especially of superphosphate, nitrate of soda,
and potash. And for all of these three indispensable soil-foods
we were dependent upon foreign sources of supply, which naturally
suffered interruption more or less as a result of the outbreak of
hostilities. During 1913 we imported 970,185 tons of these manuring
agents, for which we paid £3,333,612--$16,668,060. These figures do
not include potash, appreciable quantities of which, drawn from the
German mines, were used. But, taking the other two materials, phosphate
occupied first place in point of quantity with 539,016 tons valued
at £874,166--$4,370,830--while the Chilian nitrate claimed premier
position in value at £1,490,669--$7,453,345--for which we received
140,926 tons.

Owing to the availability of the foreign manures there was a tendency
to turn a blind eye to our own producing capacity in regard to
plant-foods of the chemical order. But such an attitude was quite in
keeping with the British character; we preferred to pay compliments, in
the form of money, to other countries at the expense of our own. With
war we learned the folly of our ways and received an awakening, rude
but fruitful.

Of the artificial fertilizers essential to plant life we can supply all
with the possible exception of the superphosphate, although in this
instance we are striving to develop our home resources. Chilian nitrate
may be superseded by the atmospheric nitrates: we can derive all the
potash we desire by the observance of the necessary care and the
lessons which science in its various phases is able to extend. Possibly
the results may not be so prolific as when the imported articles are
utilized, but this is merely a matter of opinion, and one upon which
even experts agree to differ.

Of the domestic contributions to the artificial fertilizer issue, those
which have attracted the greatest measure of attention are sulphate of
ammonia and basic slag. So far as the first named, of the nitrogenous
group, is concerned, a remarkable reversion of opinion is to be
recorded. Prior to the war the British farmer, despite the fact that
sulphate of ammonia was obtainable in relatively large quantities from
home sources, was not deeply impressed with its plant-feeding value.
At all events the domestic consumption was relatively low, 60,000 tons
being the maximum amount used in any pre-war year. But what the British
yeoman disdained, his foreign contemporary seized with avidity. During
1913 our exports of this waste, or by-product from our gas-works and
coking-ovens, totalled 323,054 tons worth £4,390,547--$21,952,735--out
of a total export of 704,071 tons of fertilizers valued at
£5,745,484--$28,727,420. France and Spain, as well as our sugar-growing
Dominions, were our largest customers, the farmers of which were
prepared to pay more for this soil stimulator than were their
contemporaries at home. But, as a result of experience gained under the
stress imposed by war, sulphate of ammonia found greater favour in the
eyes of our husbandmen. During 1916 the home consumption increased by
15,000 tons, a further 15,000 tons’ improvement was recorded during the
first three months of 1917, while for the 1917 season the figure rose
to 150,000 tons.

Under normal conditions, in accordance with the law of supply
and demand, prices tend to rise coincidentally with the enhanced
manifestation of request, but the country took steps to protect the
consumer, and at the same time to remunerate the producers adequately.
Whereas the pre-war price for this fertilizing agent ranged from £12
10s. to £14--$62.50 to $70--per ton, the war price was officially fixed
at £16--$80--per ton. Inasmuch, however, as the controlled quotation
included transport and delivery charges, the actual increase in the
cost was not appreciable.

But it was the 1917-18 season which revealed the circumstance that
the virtues of sulphate of ammonia at last had really gripped the
British farmer. From the estimates which were carefully prepared the
requirements were set down at 220,000 tons. As a matter of fact they
notched 230,000 tons. Thus, in two short years, the consumption of
sulphate of ammonia by the hungry soil of Britain was quadrupled, a
really startling achievement. The total output of this commodity,
both in the solid and liquid forms, reached a round 400,000 tons,
and to-day stands at about 460,000 tons. Approximately, one-half of
this aggregate is forthcoming from our gas-works and the other half
from our coking-ovens and blast-furnaces. During the war the balance
remaining after the needs of agriculture had been met, namely 170,000
tons, was absorbed in the manufacture of munitions. But under restored
peace conditions this latter volume will be rendered available for home
consumption or export.

Seeing that our pre-war export figure was 323,054 tons a year, it would
seem as if we are destined to lose some of our revenue from this trade.
Obviously only about 170,000, or at the utmost, 230,000 tons will be
available for our foreign customers. It would seem as if we are certain
to fall a round 100,000 tons short of their actual needs, which will
certainly be equal to the ante-bellum figure. As a matter of fact
the demand will probably be much heavier, considering that the land
of these customers has been denied this food for nearly five years;
at least supplies have only been forthcoming in small and totally
inadequate quantities. Moreover, the home demand is rising still, which
must tend to attenuate the quantities available for export.

But there is no need for us to grow apprehensive. In another chapter
I deal with the benzol question, and illustrate how we might increase
our supplies of a home-produced fuel to displace imported petrol. In
meeting our domestic benzol requirements we can increase our output
of sulphate of ammonia at the same time. The ammonia is the substance
which so worried gas engineers during the early days of gas-lighting.
Then it was an unmitigated curse: to-day it is a blessing. The actual
yield of sulphate of ammonia from a ton of first-class gas-distilling
coal may be set down at 18 lb. However, seeing that this varies
according to the quality of the coal, I will set this figure at 15 lb.,
which is distinctly conservative. On this basis, if the whole of the
coal burned to sheer waste in the private grates of the country, and
which may be set down at 100,000,000 tons under normal conditions, were
first carbonized, it would be possible to add at least 700,000 tons to
our present output of sulphate of ammonia, which would thus be brought
up to approximately 1,160,000 tons a year. This would be quite enough
to satisfy the needs of all our customers. But, at the present moment,
owing to our supineness, the ammonia and the benzol are being allowed
to fly up the chimney. Consequently every person who adheres to the
consumption of coal instead of coke, in the open grate, just because
a blaze is appreciated, is doing his or her bit towards the loss,
assuming the value of the fertilizing agent at the modest figure of £10
per ton, of £7,000,000--$35,000,000--per annum. Truly we are paying
dearly for the gratification of a whim.

Second in popularity among the artificial fertilizers comes basic slag.
This is another waste product, being the refuse from our steel-works.
It has been allowed to pile up in the vicinity of our blast-furnaces to
the detriment and disfigurement of our countryside. But an observant
and persevering individual probed these unsightly heaps to discover
that they contained a valuable food for plants, and in sufficient
quantity to render it remunerative to pulverize the rock-like mass into
a fine powder. Forthwith, where phosphatic content was sufficiently
favourable, the dumps were taken in hand to be ground up into a flour
to be distributed over the soil.

But the story related of sulphate of ammonia was destined to be
repeated in connection with basic slag. It found greater favour in
the eyes of the foreign farmer than it did with the native yeoman,
although in this instance the circumstance that a mistake was being
committed was discovered possibly more promptly. In 1913 our exports of
phosphatic refuse from our blast-furnaces were 165,100 tons, for which
we received £633,034--$3,165,170. The consumption upon our home lands
was about the same, so that the total output was a round 330,000 tons a
year. Here again, once the possibilities of the fertilizer were driven
home, an increased demand set in. From an attitude of indifference
British farmers turned to one of clamour. Fortunately, the first rush
was met by placing an embargo upon the export of this article, and, in
this way, double the quantity was at once secured for native needs.

The demand soon absorbed this extra quantity, and then it became
necessary to increase the output of the article. But in this instance
the problem was not so readily solved. In the first place the farmer
was not disposed to accept this fertilizer when its phosphatic content
fell below 25 per cent. But the proportion of phosphate varies widely
according to the district whence the ore is forthcoming, as well as the
actual smelting process followed. It may range up to as high as 44 per
cent. or more; on the other hand it may fall to as low as 12 per cent.
or less.

Owing to the comparatively limited demand which prevailed for this
article before the war, only comparatively few firms essayed the
necessary grinding of the rock-like waste from the blast-furnaces.
Again it was by no means an easy matter to maintain the slag to the
desired phosphate quality. Another disturbing factor was that the
smelting of steel, in common with other industrial process, is in a
constant state of transition and improvement. This evolution was found
to be affecting the slag very adversely, because the tendency was
towards lowering of the phosphoric acid content.

However, it was discovered that, while the available dumps showing a
phosphatic content of 25 per cent. or more were severely limited, there
were an appreciable number of slag heaps carrying a lower percentage,
ranging down to 17 per cent. of the necessary constituent. These were
taken in hand to be passed through the grinding mills. Even this
contribution proved insufficient. The demand was met only by working
heaps of inferior phosphate quality and adjusting the price according
to the percentage of the phosphoric acid present, the figure naturally
rising as the proportion improved.

The increase in the consumption of basic slag was remarkable. The
1916 figure was double that of 1913, the whole of the 165,000 tons
formerly exported being absorbed. Increased producing facilities and
the exploitation of a lower grade waste, as already mentioned, served
to increase the consumption for 1917 a further 150,000 tons to 500,000
tons, which represented the maximum capacity of the works specializing
in this product. But although the latter could not be extended to
meet the still rising demand, owing to the difficulties encountered
in connection with the provision of machinery, every effort was made
to keep supply astride of demand. Many cement works throughout the
country had been compelled to cease operations owing to the stoppage
of constructional activity and were lying dormant. As these possessed
machinery excellently adapted to the preparation and grinding of the
slag they were pressed into service, especially for dealing with the
lower-grade waste from the blast-furnaces. In this way provision was
made for lifting the output to 600,000 tons or more a year.

So far as the superphosphates are concerned the deficiency experienced
in this connection has not been so easy of solution. Our resources in
the essential material, so far as is known, are somewhat sparse, while
a further problem arose in connection with the sulphuric acid, which
was in keen request for other purposes. The issue was met by continuing
the importation of the crude rock from the northern coast of Africa,
and in this manner we contrived to satisfy our needs. But, during this
period, the opportunity was taken to ascertain whether or no there did
happen to be any suitable rock or other waste which we were neglecting,
inasmuch as the moment war ceased immense quantities of sulphuric acid,
then being absorbed for the production of munitions and other military
requirements, would be released. Investigation was directed once again
to the coprolite beds in the Eastern Counties which were formerly
worked to yield artificial manures of this character, but which had
been abandoned. They were again taken up, and a domestic superphosphate
production industry resuscitated upon a limited scale. But whether
under normal trading conditions it will prove remunerative to continue
this phase of native activity time alone can prove.

The only remaining fertilizer which was a source of perturbation to
the British agricultural industry was potash, which is absolutely
essential to certain lands and specific crops. Germany was in the
position to dominate this industry throughout the world, and she did
not hesitate to wield the power she possessed to her own advantage. In
pre-war days we imported about 240,000 tons of this chemical, but the
greater part was absorbed by other industries, such as glass-making, to
which it is vital. Only about 22,000 tons found their way to the land.
Nevertheless, the demand in this, as in other directions, was upwards
and prices rose by leaps and bounds, even touching about £60--$300--per
ton at one time.

Yet we have virtually solved our potash difficulty, and certainly will
be able to meet all farming requirements in connection therewith if we
only sustain our initiative. We have an abundance of waste materials
whence we might obtain all that we need, but for the most part we
have spurned them with disdain. It has been so much easier to procure
our requirements from the country across the North Sea, although,
in expending money in this direction, we materially contributed
towards the construction of the much-vaunted High Seas Fleet. But when
necessity compelled us to cast around to work out our own salvation we
encountered many surprises. Germany will doubtless be equally surprised
in future when she discovers how little dependence we need place upon
her vast resources. During the war potash was in urgent request for
munitions, but the demand in this connection will no longer prevail,
or, at least, only to a limited extent, thereby allowing commercial and
industrial fields to acquire what they need, and at a fair price. We
shall be foolish if we allow ourselves to abandon the exploitation of
our potash-yielding wastes merely by slavishly clinging to the pre-war
price for this commodity, which was about £10--$50--per ton. To do so
will be to sacrifice our national security and wealth upon the altar of
cheapness.

The wastes capable of being persuaded to yield potash are far more
numerous than may possibly be conceived. And this chemical is derivable
from some of the least-expected founts. A Yorkshire gentleman, Mr. E.
E. Lawson, threw a bundle of banana stalks upon his polished office
chair and allowed them to remain there for some time. When he removed
the stalks he noticed that the juice exuding from the stalks had played
sad havoc with the finish to the furniture. This action pointed to the
presence of potash in the juice, and apparently in material quantity to
remove the polish so effectively. So he suggested to a chemical friend,
Mr. R. H. Ellis, that it might be profitable to analyse the contents
of the stalk to ascertain just how much potash it carried. This was
done, and the result was somewhat startling, indicating 45·9 per cent.
of potash and practically no soda. The subject was then investigated
by Dr. A. J. Hanley, of the Agricultural Department of the Leeds
University, and his analysis confirmed the former finding. The dried
matter of the original banana stalk was found to be as rich in potash
as kainit, the popular fertilizer of this class. These investigations
sufficed to establish the possibility of extracting 188 lb. of dried
matter from a ton of banana stalk containing 13·7 per cent. of potash,
or 54 lb. of ash containing 47·5 per cent., or 25 lb. of pure potash.

The yield from the individual ton may seem to be too small to be worth
considering. But reflect upon the normal consumption of bananas in
this country! The annual importation ranges from 7,000,000 to 8,000,000
bunches, which represents an equal number of stalks--mere refuse.
According to Mr. Ellis, under normal conditions the stalks average a
round 4,000 in number weekly in Leeds alone. When stripped, the average
weight of the stalk is 4 lb., so that there are 16,000 lb. of stalk
wasted every week in the Yorkshire city. Properly treated, about 1,340
lb. of dried matter, rich in potash, could be secured therefrom to feed
the land.

Applying the reclamation process to the whole of the country, it
should be possible to secure from 28,000,000 to 32,000,000 lb. of
banana stalk, giving from 2,350,000 to 2,700,000 lb. of dried matter
containing 13·7 per cent. of potash--from 321,000 to 370,000 lb. of
potash--during the year. If the stalks were carbonized they would
yield from 675,000 to 771,428 lb. of ash containing from 320,000 to
366,000 lb. of pure potash. This may represent but a small fraction of
the total agricultural consumption of 22,000 tons per annum, but it
would be a contribution from a waste product which now has to suffer
destruction with the total loss of all beneficial values. The primary
difficulty, of course, would be in connection with the recovery of
the stalks, but a reorganization of our selling methods, such as the
compulsory return of the denuded stalks to the fruit markets for
ultimate bulk collection, would go a long way towards the solution of
this problem. The question arises as to whether we should not find it
advisable to dispose of all vegetable and fruit waste along individual
lines, inasmuch as other refuse of this character contains potash in
varying proportions. By the establishment of a small, inexpensive and
suitable furnace in the markets for the treatment of all waste it
would be possible to recover valuable fertilizing ash in sufficient
quantities to allow bagging and sale upon the spot. Such treatment
would be no more expensive than that in operation to-day, involving
transport to, and combustion in, the destructor.

Tobacco is another product rich in potash, particularly the ash. Here
recovery would prove an exceptionally difficult task, but it has been
suggested that the conservation of ash and the discarded ends of
cigars and cigarettes from clubs, hotels, and other centres possessing
smoking-room amenities might be encouraged. The total during the year
would be impressive. Certainly collection from such quarters would not
be attended with difficulty, while the price payable for the residue
might be made sufficiently attractive as to induce the attendants to
garner this residue.

So far as the exploitation of waste for potash content in this country
is concerned only one established practice, which is extremely
precarious, has ever met with recognition upon a limited scale. This
is the extraction of the precious substance from kelp, or _vraic_, to
mention two of the names under which the familiar seaweed is known.
The treatment of this waste is conducted along crude lines, but it is
doubtful whether our available knowledge could suggest a more skilled
method. British seaweed does not resemble that recovered off the
coasts of Japan and the Pacific seaboard of the United States, where
the recovery of potash from this residue from the sea has become an
established industry.

Yet Britain need not pay a further penny tribute to Germany. We
are able to free ourselves entirely from the German yoke, and can
confidently look forward to such a happy state of affairs so long as
the steel age reigns. The raw material dumped into the blast-furnaces
carries a certain proportion of potash. But it has always been
permitted to escape. Being associated with the fine dust it was borne
through the flues, a certain proportion being deposited therein, but at
least 90 per cent. was irretrievably lost. Threatened famine compelled
us to devote attention to the possibility of arresting this fugitive
potash, and our efforts have met with success. The furnace flue dust
is trapped to be passed through a special plant for further treatment.
Previous to the war the economical and fiscal conditions would not
have permitted such a practice with profit. The requisite plant is
necessarily somewhat costly to install and to operate. Had we decided
upon such a course of action the Germans would promptly have forced the
process into bankruptcy by resort to price-cutting tactics. The Potash
Syndicate was exceedingly powerful, and it never hesitated to wield its
power, as the United States of America have every occasion to remember
when, a few years ago, it came into conflict with the German Government
in regard to inter-trading, and was brought full tilt against the
potash ace of trumps. Had we ventured to dispute the German monopoly
by any attempt to exploit our flue-dust we should have upset a pretty
kettle of fish and should have been bludgeoned into surrender. It is
to be hoped that the authorities will hesitate to play so completely
into the enemy’s hands again, although this is fortunately very
unlikely because the Teuton monopoly has been broken effectively by the
restoration of Alsace-Lorraine to France which carries, among other
numerous advantages in raw materials, the immense potash deposits
which the Germans worked so profitably to their own ends. Still, even
this achievement should not dissuade us from continuing to exploit the
waste dust recovered from our blast-furnaces. Immense quantities of
the essential material are forthcoming, the potash content of which
varies from 3 to 13 per cent. As output increases it should be capable
of recovery at a decreasing figure and at one which should enable the
indispensable product to be placed upon the market at a competitive
figure.

The foregoing does not exhaust the list of potash-yielding wastes
possible of exploitation. It is recoverable from wool in the washing
process; feldspar also contains potash; farmyard manure will yield
it in attractive proportions--from 9 to 15 lb. per ton; while liquid
manure also carries it to the extent of 40 to 45 lb. per 1,000 gallons.
Thus it will be seen that we need never suffer from an actual famine in
potash if we but resolve to exploit our wastes to the utmost.

I have referred in a previous chapter to the value of leather waste
as a fertilizer. Five years ago we did not pursue this problem
along determined lines, mainly because we did not really understand
its preparation, while our farmers did not regard the product then
marketed with favour. But to-day there is a welcome change both in
productive methods and the agricultural attitude. Some large plants
for the treatment of the leather waste have been laid down and are
being brought into operation. Two distinctive treatments are being
followed. In the one instance the curried leather--sheer residue from
the boot factories possessing no other possible use--is being submitted
to treatment for the extraction of the greases and fats used in the
dressing processes. In the second system these fats, owing to their low
grade and as yet absence of possible industrial use, are being ignored,
although they disappear for the most part from the product in the
course of treatment. Otherwise the two methods are broadly identical.
The leather is carbonized and then reduced to a dark greyish powder. In
this form it meets with the full approval of the farmer, and, as its
nitrogen content is said to range up to 9 per cent., it is meeting with
ready disposal, the demand at the present moment being far in excess
of supply. At one works an output of 60 tons a week is being recorded,
which incidentally indicates the quantity of leather waste incurred in
our boot-producing factories.

I have also drawn attention to the extent to which fish scrap is now
being treated, and here again highly satisfactory developments are
to be narrated, the trade, especially in regard to the production
of fertilizer, being in a flourishing condition. Fish guano appeals
to the farmer, owing to its high content of ammonia and phosphate
which aggregate approximately 20 per cent. At one fish waste reducing
factory the output is 20 tons every 24 hours, the plant being run on
continuous lines, but arrangements are being completed to double the
capacity to secure an output of 40 tons during the 24 hours. Hitherto
the farmer has not been completely enamoured of fish manure because
in certain instances, notably in the treatment of the oily fish, such
as the herring, the grease content, which was as anathema to him,
was somewhat heavy. But the perfection of the solvent extraction
process which I have described, and whereby the oil contained in the
finished fertilizing meal can be reduced to as low as 1 per cent., has
completely removed this disability.

As is well known, bone-meal is a popular fertilizer. In this
instance, although the fatty content of the crude bones may be high,
the processes of degreasing have been advanced to such a stage of
perfection as to bring about virtually the total elimination of this
objectionable constituent. The fertilizer, if properly prepared,
will not carry more than 1 per cent. of grease. The bones undergo a
very thorough treatment, because this waste is able to feed several
industries.

Sewage is also coming more widely into favour as a fertilizer, as
I explain in another chapter, while residues incurred in other
ramifications of industry are now being carefully collected instead
of being permitted to dissipate into the air or to pass to the
furnaces for combustion. The dust arising from the reduction of
woollen rags into shoddy forms an excellent hop manure. Dried blood
is another first-class fertilizer--in fact it would be difficult to
enumerate all the wastes which can now be profitably exploited for
their soil-nourishing values. Speaking broadly, it may be stated that
any refuse which, upon investigation, is able to yield 3 or more per
cent. of nitrogen demands further examination for the discovery of
the cheapest ways and means to reduce it to a fertilizer for sale
at an attractive figure. If price be right no apprehensions need be
entertained concerning disposal; the farmer will absorb the plant food,
to nourish his crops, with eagerness.



CHAPTER XVIII

SAVING THE SEWAGE SLUDGE


In matters pertaining to sanitation and the movement of sewage Great
Britain undoubtedly leads the world. There our conquest ends. From
that point onwards we can only point to lamentable inefficiency.
For instance, the lay-out of the main drainage system of London,
undoubtedly the finest illustration of such engineering in the world,
has involved a capital expenditure of £12,514,606--$62,573,030. By the
provision of enormous conduits and feeders the excrementitious matter
from residences, offices, workshops, and factories of the metropolis
is borne for miles to central stations. In this manner those natural
and trade wastes, construed as being inimical to health, are removed
swiftly and hygienically, and we compliment ourselves upon our prowess,
which certainly is justifiable so far as it goes.

But when we come to the treatment of this material we fail miserably.
At the central station the solid matter, in reality a mud or sludge,
is separated from the free liquid. The disposal of the latter offers
little or no difficulty. It can be rendered innocuous, and is therefore
permitted to resume its part in the scheme of Nature. But the sludge:
that is a different proposition. A few figures concerning the situation
in regard to London may prove illuminating. Certainly they will serve
to demonstrate the magnitude of the volume of this waste. During the
year over 100,000,000,000 million gallons of sewage are received
from approximately 5,350,000 people occupying 95,000 acres. Each
million gallons of sewage yields about 25 tons of sludge. The total
quantity of solid matter is approximately 200,000 tons. It costs about
30s.--$7.50--to treat and dispose of each million gallons of raw
sewage.

The total yield of sludge exceeds 2,600,000 tons a year. It is an
incubus having no ostensible commercial value, so is transferred
to vessels to be carried out to sea where it is thrown overboard.
Seeing that it costs about £17 13s.--$88--to run each vessel out
and back again, and that some 111,000 journeys are made during the
year, dumping the sludge costs the ratepayers of London nearly
£2,000,000--$10,000,000--a year. The crime incidental to London is
repeated throughout the country, and in this way, as Sir William
Crookes pointed out, the nation is deliberately discarding 16,000,000
tons of valuable nitrogenous material which, were it subject to proper
treatment, might be reclaimed to participate in the nourishment of our
broad acres. Estimating the value of this potential fertilizing agent
at the modest figure of one ¹⁄₂d.--1 cent--per pound we are, of malice
aforethought, throwing away a round £35,000,000--$175,000,000--per
annum. But this is not the most disturbing feature. For the most part
the sludge, and in the case of seaside towns the crude sewage, is
discharged upon potential valuable fishing grounds, to the destruction
or infection of the fish, especially shell-fish. Furthermore, one must
not imagine because the objectionable and dangerous refuse is abandoned
well out to sea its serious dangers are removed. Tides and currents
play strange tricks, the result being that much of this filth is thrown
back upon the coasts, perhaps at a distant point, to wreak possible
havoc.

Civilization breeds a strange fastidiousness. The idea of reclaiming
sewage for exploitation is repulsive to the average individual,
although he does not turn a hair at the use of the comparative material
derived from the animal kingdom for the nourishment of the soil, and
the feeding of produce cultivated essentially for the table. The
argument often raised against any exploitation of excrement is that it
has become associated with many other deleterious substances, which
have been thrown or allowed to run down the drain, as the readiest
avenue for their disposal. But the very circumstance that such waste
has become compounded with other residues, many of which are worth
reclamation, should be sufficient to induce us to regard sewage not
as an incubus or danger, but as a mine worthy of development to its
fullest extent.

Fortunately, the objection to the exploitation of sewage for its
commercial contents is in process of being over-ruled by the growth of
a more enlightened attitude towards the whole issue, although it is
to be feared, in accordance with the precept that what the eye does
not see the heart does not grieve, the more progressive policy is
being sanctioned unconsciously. It is safe to assert that, but for the
war, which retarded the hands of progress very pronouncedly, the new
movement in regard to the handling of this material would have made a
material advance. Even to-day the outlook is not hopeless, inasmuch as
the accentuated need to make every use possible of waste products may
result in the sewage exploitation problem being attacked with enhanced
energy.

What can be done with sewage is revealed by the action of one or two
towns which have taken their courage into their own hands, notably
Bradford and Oldham. In these two instances the modern handling of
sewage was assumed before the war, so that the experience gathered
during the past six years may prove sufficiently convincing to permit
the whole subject to be attacked more in consonance with contemporary
thought, which views all wastes in one light--potential raw materials
for other industries.

Changing conditions and the need to cope with this residue along more
comprehensive lines, in accordance with the growth of the population
and the quantity of material to be handled, were responsible for the
change from the old method to the new in both instances. In the case
of Bradford the Corporation found it necessary to establish new works
about six miles distant from the centre of the city, and was faced with
the necessity to expend £1,250,000--$6,250,000--in connection with the
undertaking. In view of such a heavy capital committal perhaps it was
only logical to consider the possibility of rendering the sewage more
remunerative in the future than it had been in the past. Any revenue
to be derived from exploitation in such a field must react to the
advantage of the community affected, more especially when such action
does not jeopardize the health of the citizens to the slightest degree.

Of course, the situation in so far as it concerns Bradford was somewhat
unusual. The city is the hub of the wool-scouring trade of the country,
and in treating the sewage much of the wealth allowed to slip down the
drains from cleaning the wool is open to reclamation. The one great
mistake, if such it may be called, of which Bradford has been guilty,
in view of the volume of grease contained in the effluents, is ever to
have permitted these wastes to pass into the drains and sewers. They
should have been collected and treated as a separate entity. But, as
this would have entailed combination of the interests concerned, an
admittedly difficult undertaking under voluntary conditions, the city
authorities decided to repair the sins of omission upon the part of
its industrial citizens and to assume the recovery of the valuable
materials which were being allowed to escape.

This manifestation of commendable enterprise and initiative owes its
origin mainly to the activity of Mr. Joseph Garfield, A.M.I.C.E., the
sewage engineer. Many years ago the idea of turning the sewage of the
city to industrial account occurred to him, and he embarked upon a
prolonged series of exhaustive experiments. These were sufficiently
conclusive and sufficiently promising of profit as to persuade the
adoption of the methods he advocated at the critical moment, which
arrived when the provision of a new sewage station became imperative.

The plant for dealing with the sludge was moved from the old situation
to new buildings specially erected for the purpose at Esholt, and the
raw material is fed to the latter station through a special main. The
sludge contains only 80 per cent. of water, the free water having been
previously removed by settling. It is fed into the main by compressed
air. Upon its arrival at the station the sludge is lifted, also by
compressed air, into large vats, where it is heated by the waste
steam from the engines of the power plant. In this heated condition
the sludge passes into close-sealed vessels from which, still at a
temperature approaching boiling point, it is forced by compressed air
through the filter presses. Each of these presses, of which there are
about 100 disposed in rows, contains 47 chambers, each 3 feet square.

As already stated, the sewage of Bradford is heavily charged with
grease resulting from wool-washing and other industries, and it is this
heavy proportion of grease which renders the process so attractive.
Moreover, by keeping the sludge in a heated condition during the
pressing process the expression of the fatty content is more readily
effected. From 40 to 48 hours are required to fill a press with
residuum, that is to say this period of time must elapse before the
whole of the available space within the press is occupied by the dry
cake from which the grease has been expressed, by which time from
four to five tons of sludge have been passed through. Each cake is 3
feet square by 1¹⁄₂ inches thick and weighs about 30 cwt. The grease
and water which is driven out of the sludge is carried away from the
presses into tanks. Here the water and grease are separated, the water
to be re-discharged into the sewage, while the grease is led to the
purification tanks. Subsequently the fat is either drawn off into
barrels or is pumped into tank wagons for dispatch to the works where
it is worked up into articles of commerce, including soap. The oil is
found to yield three valuable products--olein, stearine, and pitch. The
two last named enter extensively into the dressing of leather, as well
as the manufacture of candles and as an insulator for electric cables,
respectively.

The installation yields from 12 to 15 tons of grease throughout the
twenty-four hours, working, of course, being continuous. This product
in the days before the war commanded from £8 to £10--$40 to $50--per
ton, but the price is now higher. The sludge-cakes find favour as a
fertilizer, mainly from the fact that they are free from lime and
carry only from 28 per cent. to 30 per cent. of moisture. This residue
fetched from 3s.--75 cents--upwards per ton at the works in pre-war
days, when a healthy export was recorded, the product being shipped
in appreciable quantities to France and even to the Southern States
of America. The output of cake averages from 50 to 60 tons per day.
In addition to proving useful as a fertilizer it has been found to
furnish, when blended with coal-dust, a serviceable fuel.

The revenue derived from this example of sewage industry is certainly
such as to attract widespread attention. In the early days of the
process, when only two presses were maintained to establish its
possibilities, the grease sales reached £222 10s. 6d.--$1,112.62--per
annum. In 1911 the annual revenue had risen to a figure ranging between
£20,000 and £30,000--$100,000 and $150,000--from the enlarged battery
of presses. When the new works were opened it was anticipated that the
Corporation would be deriving £50,000--$250,000--a year from the sale
of the products derived from its sewage upon the attainment of the
designed maximum output. Up to the year 1911 the total sales amounted
to no less than £100,000--$500,000. From the recital of these figures
it must be conceded that Bradford has a very profitable commercial
enterprise in its sewage works.

Yet even the foregoing figures are undoubtedly capable of improvement
owing to the advances made in the whole issue of the recovery of fats
from wastes. The pressing system, even when conducted along the most
modern lines with up-to-date plant, leaves much to be desired in point
of yield. Under the most favourable pressing conditions at least 10
per cent. of the original volume of grease is left in the residue. The
presence of this grease reacts against the value of the residue as a
fertilizer, grease being the bugbear of the farmer. With the latest
process for grease extraction this content can be reduced down to 1 per
cent. Not only does this represent an increased yield of 9 per cent.
of fat with its attendant enhanced financial return, but it gives a
fertilizer which, being exceedingly low in fat, appeals more strongly
to the farmer, and accordingly is able to command a higher price. This
fact appears to have become appreciated by the Bradford authorities
according to recent developments.

Because such a striking success has been recorded at Bradford, it is
not to say that the self-same method would be equally profitable at
other places, especially those handling what might be termed purely
domestic sewage. The conditions existing at the Yorkshire city are
peculiar, owing to the wool-washing trade. The process which is more
likely to make the widest appeal, being the one adapted to meet the
average conditions, is that which has been installed in the borough
of Oldham. This is the invention of Mr. J. Grossmann, M.A., Ph.D.,
F.I.C., the well-known chemical engineer, who has made the exploitation
of sewage his life-long study. The plant in question was laid down
in 1912, being set in operation in October of that year, since which
date it has been working without a break, giving the most satisfactory
results. At the time the installation was carried out the population of
the borough was 148,840, and both the water-carriage and sanitary-pan
system were in vogue, although the latter was giving way to the former
method at the rate of about one thousand per year. As the conversion
system was carried into effect the quantity of sludge which the sewage
works were called upon to handle increased, the quantity pressed in
1911 being nearly 8,000 tons a year as compared with 4,000 tons in
1899. This did not include the several hundred tons which were dealt
with in lagoons without pressing. As the quantities of pressed sludge
increased so did the difficulty of disposing thereof.

The outlook was somewhat disconcerting. The agricultural land in the
vicinity could only absorb a portion of the available volume. The
necessity to incur the expense of carrying the residue a considerable
distance to dispose of it, which solution would have proved somewhat
costly, appeared to be inevitable. Experiments innumerable were carried
out, but to no purpose. Agriculture, which is regarded as the obvious
outlet for such material, was adverse to the proposal to absorb the
accumulation for the land, because it carried approximately 15 per
cent. of grease. The only escape from the dilemma appeared to be
the installation of further presses with the attendant expense for
auxiliaries to yield a dry material, and then to pay for the cartage
of this residue to some convenient tipping ground or carriage of the
settled sludge to sea to be dumped. As a round 30,000 tons of sludge
would have been involved, the sea-dumping expedient would have been
extremely costly. Further consideration of the question established the
possibility of converting the material into a marketable manure, but
this would have required the utilization of a trade process and also
would have incurred expense.

At this juncture the attention of the Corporation was attracted to Dr.
Grossmann’s process. It was investigated and submitted to searching
experiments spread over a period of three years at the sewage works.
From the results obtained and the experience gathered, it gave promise
of being completely successful when conducted upon a large scale. So it
was adopted.

The Grossmann process may be said to represent the most logical
exploitation of sewage yet attempted in accordance with the severe
hygienic conditions imposed to-day. Curiously enough, when the disposal
of sewage by water-carriage was first introduced, the critics of the
principle did not hesitate to point out that it represented the most
wasteful solution of the problem which had ever been accepted for
practice. But against these contentions the advocates of the idea urged
that the hygienic advantages to be gained were so overwhelming that the
question should not be considered from the commercial view-point at all.

Other days, other manners. In this instance, however, not many years
passed before the issue attracted such widespread attention as to
demand searching investigation, the difficulty and cost attending
the disposal of the sludge being responsible for a pronounced outcry
against the method. The sludge problem was thoroughly probed by a Royal
Commission, by which the opinion was expressed that the value of this
waste, calculated upon the volume of dry substance contained therein,
was no more than 10s.--$2.50--per ton at the very outside. But as the
sludge is produced in a form showing a high percentage of water it
was hopeless to expect farmers to absorb it, owing to the transport
charges involved for such a comparatively low manurial return, unless
their land happened to be situate close to the centres of production.
To overcome the water difficulty attempts were made to dry the sludge,
in the effort to reduce its bulk, but it was discovered that drying did
not constitute a complete sterilization process, with the result that
the material was liable to carry infection. But the greatest objection
to drying is that this very process, while it achieves one end--the
transport difficulty--provokes another disability. The sewage is worth
less after drying than in the saturated form.

The presence of fat in material quantities has always been responsible
for agricultural hostility towards this waste as a fertilizer. The fat
is due to soap used in the household, and which is thrown down the
drains, as well as the grease resulting from other domestic operations.
The great objection to grease is that it has the tendency to clog the
soil.

In turn efforts were made to dispose of the nuisance as a fuel, the
heavy proportion of oil present in the dried cake being the attractive
feature prompting this application. This recommendation found scanty
favour. Another brilliant mind conceived the idea of consuming the
refuse in gas-producers, thus obtaining a low-grade gas for power
purposes. This attempt failed to meet approbation. A third expedient
was its conversion into an illuminating gas, but this likewise failed
to overcome the obstacle. In so far as lighting is concerned, in many
places the practice is followed of allowing the gas thrown off by
the decomposing fæcal matter during its passage through the sewers,
to be led to the burners of adjacent street lamps to mix with the
ordinary town gas and thus be consumed. But this is merely a safety
precaution; it is not followed from economical motives. Now that
electricity is widely displacing gas for street illumination, even this
quasi-utilitarian system is meeting with defeat.

Under the Grossmann system, as practised at Oldham, the sludge is
subjected to a complete scientific treatment. The process is continuous
and automatic throughout. Moreover, the plant is designed and built
upon the unit principle, which allows the standardization of parts and
ability to meet any desired demand by merely acquiring a sufficient
number of units to comply with the sewage resulting from a given
population. Each unit is capable of dealing with sludge arising from
the purely domestic sewage of 20,000 inhabitants. Thus a town of
100,000 inhabitants would require 5 units, a city of one million souls
50 units, and so on in arithmetical progression. Furthermore, any
number of units can be worked together, so that in those centres where
the population fluctuates according to season or other conditions, a
certain number of units can be shut down during the off period.

The sludge passes to a special tank and is permitted to settle down
to approximately 20 per cent. solid matter. It is then scooped up by
bucket elevators to be lifted and discharged into another tank at the
top of the building. This acts as the storage tank or hopper, whence
it is moved automatically by means of screw conveyors and distributed
among six hoppers. Each of these hoppers feeds a drying machine. The
driers, set out in pairs with their brickwork casings and flues, occupy
the upper room. The machines themselves comprise iron cylinders set in
the brickwork and coal-fired furnaces. They are fitted with a specially
designed gearing and pulley mechanism which gradually moves the crude
wet sludge from the inlet towards the opposite end or outlet. Being
exposed to heat during this passage the sludge is naturally deprived of
the water it contains, this being evaporated to be led to the furnace
where any offensive gases and other matter associated therewith in
suspension are consumed before passing to the chimney to escape into
the outer air. By the time the sludge reaches the outlet it has been
completely dried.

The arrangement of the feed from the hopper to the drier is such that
only a measured quantity of sludge can be passed through in a given
time, which ensures the condition of the sludge at the outlet being
uniform. The provision of a similar measuring system at the outlet of
the drier ensures only a measured quantity of sludge being discharged
at that point. It will be observed that these protective devices guard
against forcing the apparatus to the detriment of the delivered sludge
which emerges from the drier in the form of a dry powder.

If desired this residue may be burned. Mixed with coke it forms an
excellent fuel, and can be employed towards raising the requisite steam
to conduct the treatment of further sewage. But, in view of the fact
that this powder contains about 15 per cent. of fat, its disposal as a
fuel would constitute about the most wasteful conceivable. Accordingly,
the next stage is the extraction of the fatty content. As it comes
from the drying apparatus the sludge is passed automatically into a
distilling retort which is bricked-in and heated. Above this retort
is a tank containing acid, a certain quantity of which is passed
into the retort to be automatically mixed with the powdered sludge.
Simultaneously superheated steam is driven through the mass in such a
manner as to permeate the whole. The interior of the retort is fitted
with gearing and pulleys similar to those provided to the drier and
for a similar purpose--the steady gradual movement of the sludge from
one end to the other. By the time it has reached the outlet from the
machine the sludge, completely deprived of fat, is automatically
discharged as a valuable manure and is ready for distribution upon the
land.

The superheated steam charged with the grease is passed into a
condenser, where water from a feed tank condenses the water and throws
down the grease. The mixture of condensed steam and grease is passed
into a recovery tank. The grease settling out on the top is removed
for boiling up in a separate vessel, upon the completion of which
treatment it is ready for packing and sale. The fatty matter consists
largely of stearine and palmitine, which to-day meet with a prompt sale
at lucrative prices.

But it is the solid residue in the dry powdered form which attracts the
greatest measure of attention. Disposal of the grease from sewage has
never occasioned so much difficulty as the utilization of the ultimate
residue from reasons already explained. In this particular instance
the great problem has been solved. The manure is in the form of a fine
powder, containing nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, as well as
about 40 per cent. of organic material. It is very fine, brownish in
colour, odourless, and what is more to the point, absolutely innocuous,
having been completely sterilized. Consequently there is no risk of
infection being disseminated by its use.

The circumstance that the process is absolutely automatic from the
time the sludge is charged into the hopper to the finished article
issuing from the distilling retort, is a distinct recommendation. Not
only does it conduce to extremely economical operation, but it reduces
the necessity to bring human labour into one of the most offensive of
industries, inasmuch as the atmosphere of such an establishment is
scarcely fragrant, as may well be imagined, although familiarity breeds
strange contempts. The only labour essential is that required for
heating up the drying machines and retorts.

There is one overwhelming advantage incidental to this process which
cannot fail to arouse attention. Pressing in any form is eliminated.
This not only signifies a very pronounced saving in capital expenditure
in the first instance, but contributes to lower working charges, while
there is an enhanced recovery of grease and an absolutely grease-free
residue.

Before the Corporation of Oldham decided to install this system upon a
practical scale searching experiments were conducted with the resultant
manure, to determine its plant-feeding value. It was the promise of
being able to find such a ready market for the ultimate residue which
constituted one of the attractions of the process. Experiments were
conducted at several farms with various produce, and these proved that
the manure gives remarkably good results and is more effective than any
other plant-feeder containing the same proportion of nitrogen, potash,
and phosphates. Finally it contains an ingredient which is absolutely
missing from every chemical fertilizer. The latter is certainly a
plant food, but it is imperative that the ground should be treated
with a certain quantity of organic matter to assure the physical and
mechanical working of the soil. Decaying organic matter fulfils this
end admirably, as one would suppose, being a natural process, but
during the past five years the bestowal of sufficient quantities of
necessary humus has been impossible, owing to the shortage in supplies
of farmyard manure.

For this reason every farmer regards a grease-free manure carrying
substance of a humus-like nature for the improvement of his soil with
a particularly friendly eye, and he is prepared to pay a good price
for such an article. The sewage sludge fertilizer prepared under the
Grossmann process offers the agriculturist just what he desires in this
connection, inasmuch as it carries about 30 per cent. of the humus-like
substance. Then, again, the active manurial ingredients are distributed
over the mass in such a fine state of division as cannot possibly be
attained by resort to mechanical grinding. Finally, it is excellently
balanced, and the farmer keenly appreciates a well-balanced fertilizer.
Here he gets it because the essential operation has been conducted
by Nature, whose process cannot be rivalled. Applied to gardens this
manure is found to prevent the growth of yellow leaves, while the green
of the foliage is particularly rich and dark. In some quarters there
has been a certain degree of hesitation to utilize the fertilizer
merely because it is derived from sewage, owing to the prevalence of
many fallacious notions. Its origin is regarded with revulsion, and
its utilization with a certain degree of dread, but there need be no
apprehensions whatever concerning its use. The fact that in the course
of the treatment the material is raised to a temperature approaching
600 degrees Fahrenheit--where the superheated steam comes into contact
with the waste to expel the fat--effectively disposes of all germ life
inimical to the health of both animals and human beings, while it is
also clean to handle and odourless, it being impossible, from mere
cursory examination of the fertilizer, for the lay mind to determine
its origin. Finally, it may be stored for any length of time without
creating a nuisance, or deteriorating.

The whole of the output from the Oldham sewage works, which, owing
to the process of concentration, is really limited, notwithstanding
the volume of crude sewage handled, is readily absorbed by farmers.
Disposal was entrusted to a firm to act as the selling agents for the
Corporation. Owing to the number of repeat orders received, year after
year, this house declares that it could easily place 20,000 tons of the
fertilizer, were it forthcoming, without increasing its present staff
of travellers.

While the outbreak of hostilities militated against the expansion of
the process, although many other Corporations have expressed their
readiness to introduce the process into their respective sewage works,
the past five years have not been allowed to represent dead time.
Improvement upon improvement has been incorporated with the object
of securing still higher efficiency. In this direction the inventor
has made many distinct progressive strides. The one objection levied
against the process was the heavy expense incurred in regard to fuel
charges for drying the sludge, and these costs naturally have become
accentuated by the 200 to 300 per cent. rise in the price of coal. But
in this direction it is now possible to record noticeable reductions.

As a result of experiment the inventor has evolved a new method for
settling the sludge. He found that, by adding a very slight amount of
sulphuric acid--about 1 part to 1,000--to the sludge coming from the
settling tanks, the usual settling process is completely reversed.
Instead of the sludge settling to the bottom, the addition of the acid
causes it to rise to the surface, and in a much more concentrated form.
The water settles to the bottom in a clearer condition and can be drawn
off. By further settling and draining this top layer--virtually a
thick scum--a sludge can be obtained carrying about 30 per cent. solid
matter, and therefore as a less volume of water needs to be evaporated
a considerable saving in the consumption of fuel and cost of drying is
achieved.

Moreover, it is suggested that in laying down new installations, it
will be possible and profitable to install a destructor upon the sewage
works. In such cases it would be feasible to draw upon the waste
heat from the destructor to conduct the drying and other operations
demanding the application of heat. In combining the destructor
with the sewage plant the question of transport of the refuse from
the collecting ground to the destructor would demand very careful
consideration when horse haulage is employed, but with mechanical
traction the question of an extra mile or two in distance hauled is
not of such moment, especially as it would be off-set by the saving
of fuel which would attend the diversion of the waste heat to this
useful application. In fact, in cases where new lay-outs are being
contemplated it is a matter for serious reflection as to whether it
would not be found profitable to centralize destructor, electric
generating station and Grossmann sewage treatment plant in one
centralized spot, interlocking them together, and taking full advantage
of such inter-connection. The destructor would furnish the necessary
steam from the combustion of cinders and other refuse which it does not
pay at present to exploit, or preferably other low-grade fuel to drive
the electric plant, the waste steam being carried to the sewage works
for the drying and other machines together with the desired proportion
of live steam, while the electric station would furnish the requisite
power for operating the automatic mechanical appliances.

The grease recovered from the sewage, which is of a domestic character,
is essentially that from soap, cooking and washing operations. It
is totally free from all objectionable smell. It can be purified
very easily and is of distinct value. In its crude condition the fat
contains about 70 per cent. of stearic acid.

During the past few years the dry powdered residue has not only
been utilized in a direct form, but has also been exploited in the
production of compounded fertilizers. Mixed with phosphates, sulphate
of ammonia, and other nitrogenous products it has yielded a manure
which has given most excellent results in farming. Considerable
improvements with regard to greater efficiency and cheaper production
have been made in the manufacture of compounded fertilizers from this
residue, and there is every indication that still greater developments
are possible in this direction.

Were all the sewage of this country treated along these lines British
agriculture would derive distinct benefit, while industry would
also be presented with a new source of supply of essential raw
material. It would go a long way to enable us to use our greases over
and over again, because the drain is the most popular avenue for
the escape of this material. Sewage represents the greatest waste
incidental to this country. Dr. Grossmann estimates its value at
approximately £22,000,000--$110,000,000--per annum, of which but only
an infinitesimal fraction is at present recovered. The value of the
fat alone thrown down our drains, and reclaimed in a marketable form
would realize from £500,000 to £1,000,000--$2,500,000 to $5,000,000--a
year. The value of the manurial product, of which at least 1,000,000
tons are recoverable during the twelve months, may be set down at least
at £2,000,000--$10,000,000--the contents thereof being equivalent to
50,000 tons of phosphates, 50,000 tons of potash salts, with nitrogen
equal to that forthcoming from 100,000 tons of sulphate of ammonia.
This manure would suffice for the fertilization of at least 3,000,000
acres of land from which we might safely anticipate gathering, at a
modest estimate, additional crops worth £5,000,000--$25,000,000.

There is one other fact which deserves mention. Sewage is eminently
adapted to the feeding of sandy soils and other land which, at the
moment, is considered too poor for agricultural purposes. If this
manure were reserved for such land many thousand additional acres
might be brought under cultivation in these islands. At the present
moment these acres are being allowed to run to seed, constituting what
we erroneously term waste land, but only waste because we are not
sufficiently enterprising and energetic to reclaim it.

From the point of view of the towns and cities called upon to handle
the sewage, the Grossmann process holds out many inducements. It
complies with the demands of sanitation because it precipitates
no nuisance. It is the most hygienic process yet evolved for the
disposal of sewage sludge. The revenue derived from the sale of the
by-products--manure and grease--is such as to render the operation
of the plant not only self-supporting but money-making. As a rule
the sewage works of the average town represent a sink in more senses
than one, more especially when it becomes incumbent to resort to the
tipping, dumping or other disposal of the enormous accumulations of
the sludge. But signs of awakening are apparent. The Oldham plant has
been investigated by Corporations and other authorities, not only of
this country but from other parts of the world, who have been satisfied
as to its commercial practicability. With the restoration of normal
trading conditions it is anticipated that the process will become more
extensively adopted, especially as during the past five years ceaseless
effort has been devoted to the perfection of details to assure the
establishment of the process upon a firm commercial basis.



CHAPTER XIX

HOUSE-BUILDING WITH WASTES


Of the many problems of the day demanding prompt settlement, none,
perhaps, is so vital to the welfare of the community as the provision
of increased housing accommodation. The issue is by no means confined
to Great Britain; it is incidental more or less to every country. Such
a state of affairs is not surprising, seeing that building operations,
at least in the domestic sense, have been reduced to a condition of
comparative stagnation for five years. Even those countries which were
not drawn into the actual fighting arena have been unable to carry out
housing schemes to meet the needs of their growing populations owing,
primarily, to the dearth of the necessary materials and the enhanced
labour charges.

So far as Britain is concerned the outlook is decidedly disquieting.
It is estimated that at least 1,000,000 houses are required to meet
the needs of the population. As a first instalment it is proposed to
complete forthwith 300,000 houses, but, here again, experience is
proving it to be far easier to adumbrate such comprehensive schemes on
paper than to carry them into expeditious effect. Questions of cost
have arisen. This constitutes the vital factor, because obviously it is
folly to build houses for people who cannot afford to live in them. And
the limit in the upward tendency has by no means been attained.

The critical situation has been surveyed from every ostensible angle
without any practical solution being found. But have we not been
circumscribed in our attacks upon the problem? Have we not become so
deeply rutted in our ideas concerning everything pertaining to housing
as to be unable to regard the aspect from a totally new point of view?
Similar crises have developed in, and are constantly assailing, other
industries. Upon their occurrence they appear to be equally impossible
of successful adjustment, but, finally, as a result of attacking a
difficulty from quite a new angle and in a new way, it has been not
only subjugated satisfactorily, but a distinct improvement upon the
old method brought into operation at one and the same time. A new
line of thought and development, possessing greater and more economic
possibilities, has been opened up to the advantage of one and all. As
a rule one need never hesitate to abandon the existing for something
new, because the former is generally associated with some form of waste
which has become so heavy as to act as a drag. Directly this retarding
force is eliminated, or turned to account, a new era commences.

The contemporary situation in the building trade recalls the state
of affairs which arose in American agricultural circles as a result
of the outbreak of the Civil War. The drainage of man-power from the
land precipitated an extremely depressing outlook. Farmers protested
that the soil must run to seed from lack of labour to wield the tools.
But thinking men held a contrary opinion. Farming had been conducted
along lines which had been followed slavishly for centuries. Manual
labour had attained undisputed sway and to decisive disadvantage.
Why not dispense with hand labour and use machines? The suggestion
that mechanism could displace brawn upon the land provoked a good
deal of hostile criticism and humour. But the imaginative were not to
be dismayed by conservatism, prejudice, or ridicule. They continued
perseveringly along their particular lines of reasoning.

What was the result? McCormick introduced the self-binder which
revolutionized harvesting methods, while other brilliant minds
conceived equally striking time- and labour-saving appliances for other
agricultural duties. They not only solved the immediate crisis but
imparted quite a new prospect to agriculture the whole world over. It
is safe to assert that, but for the introduction of the self-binder,
one-half of the United States would still have remained as barren as
the wilderness from sheer lack of labour to cultivate it.

If such a complete revolution proved possible of attainment in such an
ancient, rutted, and indispensable industry as agriculture, surely
it is not hopeless to anticipate the fulfilment of a similar complete
transformation in the craft of house-building? So far as farming is
concerned there is every excuse for hesitating to depart from the
proved and trusty. A false step may wreak untold harm, but so far as
house-building is concerned no such calamity need be apprehended. A
mistake can speedily be rectified. It is safe to assert that there is
no other line of activity, especially in Great Britain, so closely
identified with the effete and wasteful as house-building. In so far as
constructional methods are concerned we have scarcely changed our ways
since bricks were first brought into use.

We must ruthlessly scrap the old, which has obtained for so long, in
favour of the new. Science is forcing the pace, and she will no more be
arrested by obsolete theories and arguments than the tides will be held
up by a child’s spade. Already she is asserting her power. Contemporary
methods are wickedly extravagant, and it is this absurd wastage which
is primarily responsible for enhanced costs. The ways of science are
inscrutable, but they are sure none the less: the first indications of
chafing at delay always assert themselves in the traditional becoming
too expensive to maintain. The pocket is the positive road to reform;
assail its contents, and the world commences to bestir itself. As the
farmer, raised in the old school, had to give way to the engineer,
so must our conceptions and ideas pertaining to providing houses for
the community undergo a complete change. The architect, his numerous
satellites, and the cumbrous rules and regulations which have been
framed to protect their vested interests must be jettisoned without a
thought of regret. The day has dawned when the engineer must assume the
responsibility for providing the people with residential accommodation,
and he will be assisted by a new force, including the chemist, which
will play a far more prominent part in this problem than many may be
disposed to imagine.

This is a utilitarian age. People desire houses to live in--not
to look at, although every one will readily agree that a certain
regard must be paid to external æsthetic considerations. The average
house-owner troubles his head very little over the outside appearance
of his domicile or the materials of which it is built, so long as the
interior offers him all he desires in regard to comfort and health.
Too long have we clung tenaciously to specific theories which are no
more adapted to this age than is the slave-oared galley to mercantile
traffic. They are destructive rather than constructive. For a time such
clock-arresting dogma and precepts hold sway, but sooner or later the
pendulum of progress gives such a vicious kick as to break down the
whole of the obstructions disputing advance, to assume rhythmic running
in a new channel to the advantage of one and all.

Science has the solution to the housing problem ready for immediate
application, but she must be allowed to pursue her progressive way
untrammelled. From what one might be able to assume, brick and stone
represent the only building materials at our command. But are they? In
other fields, where restraining forces are not allowed to secure the
upper hand, huge forward strides are being made and with a material we,
as a supposed commercial nation, have scarcely noticed.

I refer to concrete. We have only to turn to the engineering world
to see what has been achieved with this material in the construction
of bridges, tunnels, piers, harbours, breakwaters, warehouses,
lighthouses, and even ships. If we turn to the United States and
Germany we are able to see how we have lagged. In both those countries
enormous strides have been made and incidentally, in the prosecution of
this task, other magnificent conquests in the world of science and of
the industrial employment of waste are recorded. To-day the manufacture
of cement constitutes one of the twelve most important industries in
the United States, and the greater part of this material is made from
what a few years ago was accepted as sheer waste--residue from the
iron-works which, having no further ostensible use, was dumped in huge
piles to the disfigurement of the landscape. To-day this waste is being
turned into building material, having usurped the product originally
selected for this duty.

The reason why there should be such a deep-rooted antipathy to concrete
for house-building purposes in these islands is somewhat inscrutable.
Probably it is due to the experiments which were made many years
ago, and which owing to our limited knowledge were construed by the
quidnuncs into a failure. But because Brunel’s _Great Eastern_ did not
succeed we do not laugh at the mammoth steamship of to-day. Brunel’s
conception suffered merely from being premature. So were the first
attempts to use concrete in the house-building industry. During the
past few years we have acquired further knowledge which should enable
us to steer clear of the blunders of the past, but instead of grappling
with the problem along the lines which science is vividly blazing we
prefer to waste time in the idle discussion of quaint theories and
fantastic notions.

Many are the reasons why concrete should be employed. In the first
place it is difficult to excel for simplicity. It comprises essentially
two materials--cement, sand and rubble, the two last-named being
generically described as the aggregate. The term is wide in its
meaning, comprising virtually any and every inorganic material capable
of being crushed to a pre-determined size, and the character of which
may be as varied as the number of days in the year or more, while
recent investigation has indicated that even the conventional sand may
be eliminated, provided a sharp and gritty substitute in a similar
powdered form be forthcoming.

Think what this means and the many possibilities it opens up! In
the first place it enables material on site--waste--to be turned to
economic account, and the term waste in this instance is extremely
elastic. There is no need to disfigure the countryside with yawning
craters in the form of pits for the excavation of the special clay
suited to the making of bricks. Again we must not forget that by the
employment of the conventional building materials a demand is made upon
transport, which to-day is as acute as the scarcity of houses. With
concrete the only constituent calling for transport from a producing
point is cement, and this only involves the movement of one-seventh of
the load which would otherwise be involved were bricks to be used. In
other words, if seven tons of bricks were required to build a house it
would only be requisite to move one ton of cement to yield a similar
house in concrete--the other six tons of essential materials could be
acquired on the site. The avoidance of superfluous expenditure as well
as the economy in time and labour is obvious.

Our towns and cities are daily shedding tons of a specific form
of waste--ashes and clinker from electric generating stations,
water-works, gas-works, and refuse destructors. The contribution
naturally varies according to the population, but a small town burning
40 tons of refuse in its destructor may safely anticipate accumulating
clinker at the rate of 8 to 10 tons a day. The disposal of this residue
presents a problem in itself. A certain quantity can be absorbed in
connection with the sewage beds, road-making and other incidental
tasks, but, for the most part, it has to be dumped, merely because
it possesses no ostensible application. When one reflects upon the
activities of the factories in a manufacturing town and the daily
output of clinker and ash from these sources alone, it will be seen
that the civic clinker disposal problem is likely to assume enormous
dimensions, and to prove a costly issue in itself. Thousands of tons
are dispatched by road, rail and water from our towns and cities to be
jettisoned at suitable points where unsightliness does not count. The
authorities of New York City used to ship hundreds of tons daily 60
miles out to sea, while at Liverpool it had to be barged for 24 miles
to be thrown overboard into the Irish Sea at a cost of 2s. 6d.--60
cents--a ton! Many borough authorities will readily give away the
material to those who care to fetch it, so keen are they to be relieved
of this incubus. Yet, in every instance, the equivalent of sovereigns
are being shot upon the land, dumped into the sea, or given away as the
case may be.

Cannot a more economic use for this and kindred refuse be found? This
is the obvious question in this utilitarian age. Yet it is almost
superfluous to launch the inquiry. It can be turned into concrete:
could, and should, if we were sufficiently enterprising and astute,
as well as frugal in our habits, be turned into houses. Certain
attempts have been made towards the conversion of this residue into
constructional material such as kerb-stones for lining our pavements,
slabs to take the place of York flagstones and bricks for paving
purposes, the building of sheds and other insignificant structures, but
none represents a grim attempt to wrestle with the issue along bold and
comprehensive lines.

Some years ago, the city engineer of Liverpool, Mr. John A. Brodie,
M.Inst.C.E., one of our most enterprising city engineers, essayed a
bigger step forward. He was faced with the disposal of 50,000 tons
of clinker from the city destructors during the year. He made a bold
effort to turn it to economic account in the obvious directions--paving
and kerbing operations--but these channels absorbed only a round 20,000
tons, leaving some 30,000 tons to be shipped to sea to be dumped at a
total annual cost of nearly £4,000--$20,000. The city authorities had
resolved to carry out a tenement building scheme, and the city engineer
decided to provide them in concrete and to use the refuse from the
destructors as the aggregate, exacting tests having convinced him of
its suitability for this purpose.

The building, covering an area of 3,717 square feet, of which total
1,611 square feet are open space, is of three floors with four
tenements on each floor, finished off with a flat roof, surrounded by a
parapet for washing, drying, or playground purposes.

The construction of the building was carried out upon the section or
slab system. That is to say the walls, floors, ceilings, and other
parts, with all necessary openings, were moulded at the destructor
works, and set aside for a time to mature. Some of these slabs were of
imposing dimensions, ranging up to 16 feet in length by 13 feet wide,
14 inches thick and weighing 11 tons. Upon arrival at the site they
were slung into position and dovetailed into place, thus forming a
rigid structure.

As an indication of how modern thought may be hampered severely by
prevailing notions it may be stated that, as a result of his deductions
and experiments, the engineer decided that a thickness of 7 inches
for the walls would be adequate. But his decision was over-ruled. The
existing regulations insisted that brick walls should be 14 inches
thick and the concrete had to comply with these rules. The result
of this indefensible policy, for which misconception and lack of
knowledge were responsible, was to double the weight of the structure
and to inflate the cost of the buildings to an unnecessary degree. The
engineer computed that if construction were carried out upon the lines
he advocated the building could be completed, including the provision
of all necessary plant, for £1,230--$6,150. Enforced compliance with
obsolete rules inflated the cost to £4,072--$20,360. In other words the
ratepayers of Liverpool were compelled to spend £2,842--$14,210--more
than they need have done--a flagrant waste of money, material, time,
labour, and knowledge.

One objection which has been levelled against the concrete house is the
concrete floor. But to surmount this objection the Liverpool engineer
embedded wooden scantlings in the concrete, covered the surface of the
latter with a layer of pitch mixture applied hot, and then nailed down
¹⁄₄-inch floor-boards in the usual manner. In this way the so-called
defects of the concrete floor were completely overcome. The walls
were subjected to several experiments to determine the most suitable
internal finish, some being papered, others plastered, while in further
instances a simple coating of sanitary wash or lime was applied. It
was found, however, that for such buildings, distemper was the most
efficient finishing medium.

This experiment conclusively substantiated the claims advanced by the
engineer. It demonstrated the fact that concrete lends itself to rapid
construction, the Liverpool building, despite its size, being erected
and roofed within three months, notwithstanding frequent cessations
owing to inclement weather, and was ready for occupation within another
eleven weeks--say six months in all. It is safe to assume that had
brick been employed it could never have been finished in the time.

The advantages of concrete for such domiciles are obvious. The
structure is as near being fire-proof as it is possible to contrive.
It complies with every requirement of hygiene. It is substantial,
weather-proof, and sound-proof, while it improves with age. Concrete,
unlike the common grade of brick, does not deteriorate under the
influences of time and weather. The walls offer no refuge for vermin,
unless papered, and should a room become infected as a result of
contagious disease among the inmates, it can be promptly sterilized by
turning on a hose of boiling disinfectant and being scoured from top
to bottom. Rats and mice cannot secure a refuge, because the extreme
hardness of concrete taxes their gnawing powers to the superlative
degree.

The experience of Liverpool was adequate to drive home the fact that
concrete dwellings are not only able to provide the poorer classes
with a substantial home, complying in every respect with modern
requirements, but also indicated a profitable use for an otherwise
useless waste product. Were comprehensive schemes carried out upon
these lines the cost factor might be reduced to the absolute minimum
by recourse to standardization in the preparation of the slabs. As
a result of this initial experiment--the first of its character
in Great Britain--the Liverpool city engineer estimated that he
could erect future buildings of this type, in blocks of five, at
£1,700--$8,500--each, and that this would show a saving of 25 per cent.
over the cost which would be incurred if brick were used. But, and this
was an important factor, to achieve this end it would be incumbent to
allow the engineer to pursue his way unfettered by obsolete ideas,
fallacious notions, and antiquated rules and regulations.

Some years ago Edison precipitated a mild wave of excitement by the
perfection of a process for moulding houses complete in a solid block,
much along the lines followed by the housewife in the preparation of
jellies and other similar table dainties. He suggested the erection of
a mould to the design of the desired house, including both internal and
external artistic embellishments, and then to run the concrete into
the metal shell in liquid form and to allow it to set and harden. Then
the mould was to be demolished, leaving a solid monolithic-structure
from foundation to roof, and without a crack or a joint. The mould,
naturally, was built up in sections, which could be standardized and
interchanged, so that once a set of moulds had been acquired a house of
any desired dimensions might be erected. Of course, this demanded an
imposing array of moulds, entailing heavy initial capital expenditure.
Edison frankly admitted this to be the weak point in his scheme,
because the mould bill for the construction of a “poured” house, as it
was called, costing £240--$1,200--would be at least £5,000--$25,000.
Consequently the suggestion was impracticable, unless the builder were
given an imposing house-building scheme to complete, to enable him to
distribute his mould charges in such a manner over the houses as to
increase the actual building cost of each only by a trifling amount.

Edison’s conception aroused extreme interest in America and provoked
widespread ridicule in these islands. The “poured” house was regarded
in the same light as was the telephone upon its first appearance in
London. As the latter was declared to be merely a “scientific toy,”
so was the poured house described as nothing but a wild dream.
But, be it noted, antagonism and objection have been levelled from
the fickle standpoint of theory; we have no practical experiment to
guide us in our assault upon Edison’s idea. Instead of setting to
work to prove, or disprove, the practicability of the poured house
we wasted time in academic discussions concerning “sweating walls,”
condensation, coldness in winter, and to embark upon high-falutin
diatribes concerning the imperative necessity for such abstract demands
as “breathing bricks,” and other fantastic ideas which possibly are
of interest but do not advance the realization of the cheap house,
contribute to the solution of the housing question, or proffer a single
step towards the utilization of waste.

The Americans are more enlightened. A new idea is subjected to
practical test and discussed afterwards, not destructively, but in
the hope of being able to solve the defects which have manifested
themselves in the experiment with a view to establishing the commercial
success of the idea. While our house-building quidnuncs are leaving
no stone unturned to prevent poured houses becoming an established
practice, our engineers are setting to work in the American fashion,
and as a result we are building poured concrete ships and other
articles of utilitarian value. Possibly they are not poured in the
strict interpretation of the Edisonian term, but modified according to
experience which has been gathered.

In 1909 the International Congress on Tuberculosis assembled at
Washington D.C. To stimulate interest in a house built along such lines
as to comply with the searching requirements of perfect sanitation
and which would be particularly adapted for occupation by persons
suffering from tuberculosis, a reward was offered for the best model
of a germ-proof house. A young Washington architect-engineer attacked
the problem, submitted his conception for such a house, of the “poured”
type, and because it triumphed over all competitors, which clung to the
rutted line of thought, in the provision of light, air, and sanitation
features, carried off the prize.

In this design the cellar which, if damp, forms an ideal
breeding-ground for germs and disease, was eliminated. Floors, walls,
ceilings, cornices, bath--all were of cement poured into moulds. In
each room the floor was given a slightly sloping depression at one
corner and provided with a suitable outlet and trap. The idea was
obvious. The housewife on cleaning day did not raise impenetrable
clouds of dust to pollute the room. She simply removed her furniture,
together with all hangings, to be beaten in the open air. Then she
turned on a hose and flushed floor, walls, and ceilings, the water
escaping through the trap. No dust whatever was raised, and the
room was left dry, sweet, and clean. There were many other features
contributing to the general attractiveness of the scheme. The model
aroused more interest than any other at the Congress exhibition, but,
while one and all declared the house to possess every attractive
feature, it was regarded as merely a fantastic conception.

But, within the past eight years, more than one little “poured cement”
garden city has come into being in the United States. The first
commercialization of the germ-proof house was made near Washington. It
was run up and occupied within 30 days, and was conceded to be one of
the prettiest and most comfortable homes in the countryside, although
it cost only about £400--$2,000. To-day it is surrounded by many others.

The scheme has triumphed because the Washington architect-engineer,
instead of deriding Edison and dwelling upon the defects of the idea,
set out to overcome the problems involved, especially that identified
with the moulds. He has succeeded. Instead of demanding an initial
expenditure of £5,000--$25,000--upon this preliminary he has reduced
the mould expense down to £100--$500. This brings the idea within
the reach of commerce. He does not advocate a mould for the complete
house, but pursues what may be described as sectional-stage moulding.
Plates of steel are pressed into flanged sections 24 inches square.
These are clipped and wedged together to form a trough to hold the
liquid cement until it hardens. Above this row of plates is disposed a
second similar row, forming another trough upon the top of that which
has already been filled, and which is setting. When the lower trough
contents have hardened the lower array of plates is rolled over to form
another trough above the one in which the cement has been run, this
overlapping process, as the wall hardens, being continued until the top
has been reached. These plates also serve as forms for the moulding
of the floors and roof, and are additionally attractive because they
readily admit of the introduction of any desired artistic finish. It is
a system which lends itself to cheap and rapid construction, as events
have amply proved. That the “poured” germ-proof house, built in one
solid block, possesses distinct advantages over the building carried
out along orthodox lines is evident from the alacrity with which such
homes are purchased or occupied, a tendency which is just as pronounced
in this country as in the United States. This tends to demonstrate that
while the man-in-the-street knows nothing concerning the pros and cons
of building materials, he certainly does appreciate the overwhelming
advantages of concrete, which, be it noted, is the logical antidote to
jerry-building.

That the poured, one-piece house is not merely attractive because
of its relative cheapness is evidenced by the number of stately
homes which have been built in accordance with this principle upon
the other side of the Atlantic. Seeing that these homes have been
built to the order of, and are occupied by, those to whom cost is a
trifling consideration, it would certainly seem as if the so-called
defects of the poured house were more imaginary than real. I have seen
magnificent homes, ranging in cost from £5,000 to £25,000--$25,000 to
$125,000--built from foundation to roof upon the Edisonian idea. They
certainly would have been promptly demolished and rebuilt in other
material if the monolithic house possessed even the slightest sign of
any one of the many ills to which it is academically said to be exposed.

Industrial corporations in the United States, as in Britain, are faced
with problems concerning the housing of their employees. And they are
just as perplexing to solve. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
Railroad Company was concerned with the provision of homes for its
wage-earners in the vicinity of one of its mines. The question was
surveyed from every possible angle, and finally it was decided that the
only really attractive solution was the provision of a little garden
city of concrete houses, built upon the poured system. The authorities
concluded that in this way only would it be possible to provide
model sanitary homes, possessing every inducement, at an attractive
price, and the project was handed over to the architect-engineer
whose germ-proof house had aroused the interest of the International
Tuberculosis Congress two years previously.

The houses are built in pairs, thus being semi-detached. Each is of
two floors with flat roof, the accommodation comprising on the ground
floor living- and dining-rooms measuring 11 feet and 11 feet 6 inches by
12 feet 4 inches, respectively, large kitchen, pantry, and commodious
lobby with the projecting porch incidental to American homes. Upon
the first floor are two bedrooms measuring 11 feet 3 inches and 11
feet 6 inches by 12 feet 6 inches, a smaller room, and a porch which
may be used as an open-air sleeping chamber, if desired, or lounge,
with the usual offices. The houses are set out after the manner now
being followed in these islands, that is around the four sides of a
rectangle, facing a commodious green and flanked on the opposite side
by a deep green lawn. The roads skirt the village on all sides, the
highway approaches to the inner square being diagonally from each of
the four corners.

In carrying out the scheme the designer decided to utilize to the full
the available materials upon the spot. This was waste from the adjacent
mines, in the form of cinders, with hydrate of lime to give density and
weather-proofness. Speed in construction being a vital factor, a novel
system was introduced. A railway track was laid around the entire group
of 40 houses. The mixing plant was mounted upon one flat car which
was also equipped with an efficient apparatus to hoist the concrete.
Behind this was a second car carrying the cement, sand, and cinder. The
ingredients were shovelled into the mixer, work being continuous. The
train pulled up before the first pair of houses, the moulds forming
the trough of which were in position. The concrete was hoisted and
discharged into an elevated hopper on the vehicle from which a feed
pipe and spout was extended to the mould trough of the house-wall. The
concrete was run into the trough until it was filled, when the stream
was shut off, the feed pipe lifted, and the train moved on to the next
house, where the cycle of operations was repeated. By the time the
train had completed its circuit and had again reached the first house
the concrete previously poured had hardened sufficiently to permit the
moulds to be raised to form the succeeding trough, and so was ready to
receive another pouring of cement. It will be seen that construction
throughout the 40 houses was not only continuous but each supply of
concrete increased the height of the wall by about 24 inches, or
completed the flooring as the case might be. The building process was
not only exceedingly simple, being free from all complicated mechanism,
but involved the employment of the minimum of labour, which conduced
to extremely cheap erection. The re-setting of the moulds occasions in
this system no difficulty, inasmuch as being hinged they are merely
swung up and automatically fall into position to form the mould. The
work was commenced late in the year 1911 and was completed in the
spring of 1912, having to be suspended during the winter months, when,
of course, all building operations, irrespective of materials used, is
brought to a standstill.

The houses provided in this manner are not only attractive, but are
provided at a price bringing them readily within the reach of the
wage-earner. True, one objection might be levelled against such
standardization as it were, and that is the stereotyped design, but in
this instance this is possible of decided relief by resort to tree,
shrub, and flower embellishment in which individuality is given free
rein, and which effectively breaks up all tendency towards monotony.
But apart from extraneous treatment, the village cannot be described
as being more monotonous than our terrace system of providing homes
for the workers so common to our industrial centres, while even our
much-vaunted garden cities are freely criticized from the general
atmosphere of similarity.

However, it is cost of construction which constitutes the all-important
factor, and the poured house has demonstrated what can be done in
this instance. A similar cement city is under way for residential
purposes upon the outskirts of Chicago. The bungalow type of house is
being favoured here. In this instance cellar walls and first-story
walls, measuring some 30 by 40 feet, have been poured in four days.
The cost of construction has been exceptionally low, even for America
where higher wages and charges prevail, the cost of building a 6-inch
wall which in poured concrete is ample for either one-or two-story
buildings, having been brought down to 4d.--8 cents--per foot, which is
well below the cost of frame houses, admittedly the cheapest form of
construction in the United States.

The poured house or any other system of monolithic structure wrought
in concrete is freely assailed in these islands for being damp,
intolerably cold in winter, hot in summer, and the walls liable
to condensation. These are the popular objections raised against
the idea. But the experience of those who live in such homes in
America completely refutes such statements. The houses are declared
emphatically to be bone-dry, exceptionally warm in winter with a
freedom from draughts, cool in summer, and free from condensation. The
latter defect, it is pointed out, even if it should become manifest,
is not irremediable. The chemist can solve it quickly and cheaply. But
the great feature which makes irresistible appeal to those who dwell in
such homes is that they are always sweet and clean. Washing down walls,
ceilings and floors of a room at one and the same time with a garden
hose is something beyond the comprehension of British householders,
but they will scarcely deny its virtues, and, probably, wish heartily
that they were in a similar happy position, because nothing detracts
so seriously from the pleasures and comfort of the home as dust and
dinginess.

While we display an inexplicable hesitation to build a single house
upon the poured system to discover the character of the objections
which are said to obtain, thereby ignoring the precept that an ounce of
solid fact is worth a ton of theory, we are steadily moving towards the
concrete home, although the pioneers are being called upon to battle
fiercely against the organized forces of prejudice, conservatism,
and vested interests. In order to comply with national and other
traditions, so far as practicable, the brick system is being followed.
Machines have been devised whereby bricks, but wrought in concrete, are
speedily and cheaply produced.

The outstanding characteristic of the most approved of these appliances
is the ability to fashion brick-like masses of concrete of varying
sizes and dimensions. One of the most handy machines of this character
is the “Winget,” wherewith a wide variety of concrete formations may be
fashioned cheaply and expeditiously, and adapted to every conceivable
building requirement. This machine is noteworthy from the simplicity of
its design and operation, compactness, and high speed of working, as
well as imposing the minimum demand upon skilled labour. The concrete
is not run, but is shovelled into the mould and tamped down. When
charged the depression of a lever lifts the block, and in such a manner
as to permit its ready removal by two men armed with a carrying bar
fitted with forks which grip the under edges of the mass.

This machine has been extensively utilized in this country, and it
has proved highly efficient in working. It is excellently adapted
for the preparation of blocks or slabs from waste materials, such
as the clinker refuse from electric light generating stations,
dust-destructors, and other industrial establishments in general, as
well as such other residues as coke breeze, chalk, and rubble. High
speed of working, combined with the size of the block which may be
turned out therewith, enables it to consume such material at relatively
high speed. In a Midland town where aggregate of a waste character
was required for the fashioning of such blocks, the whole of the
daily accumulation of residue from the local electric light station,
averaging seven tons, had to be supplemented by supplies of similar
waste from private industrial establishments to keep the machine
working steadily throughout the day.

With such a machine practically any form of inorganic residue can
be put to useful constructional account. Its perfection is enabling
private authorities to exploit profitably dumps of refuse which have
long been eyesores in the locality for material to satisfy their own
building needs. One gas company, which formerly contracted in the usual
way for extensions to its buildings, generally in brick or stone, now
completes all such work with its own labour and with its own waste, its
one expenditure for material being the requisite cement. It encountered
pronounced difficulty in disposing of the coke breeze or dust; it
was virtually unmarketable. Conspicuous piles accumulated because it
was disdained as fuel. The company acquired a “Winget ” machine, and
by mixing the breeze with cement converted the useless refuse into
substantial building blocks. Those which it does not require for its
own building operations find a ready market. The outstanding fact,
however, is that all recent building extensions are carried out with
concrete blocks prepared upon the spot from material which the company
produces during the conduct of its business and which has always been
considered waste having no commercial value whatever.

To the municipality, faced with residue accumulating from the refuse
destructor, gas, and electric lighting installations, such a machine
is virtually indispensable. It offers a complete economic solution to
a perplexing problem. A certain amount of official building is always
necessary, and concrete blocks with clinker forming the aggregate
constitutes an ideal and inexpensive material. One great objection
often raised against the utilization of cinder and other similar
residue for this purpose is the dingy tone of the resultant block. But
this need not constitute a handicap. If used for the external walls of
cottages the concrete can be finished off in rough-cast, or may even
be plastered and painted. In many instances excellent reproductions of
half-timbered styles have been carried out in this material, and are
far more substantial than those wrought in the conventional brick.

But the chemist must be harnessed to the development, that is if the
most satisfactory results are to be obtained. It is the tendency
to ignore the chemist which has been responsible for much concrete
failure for homes in the past. It is imperative that clinker refuse be
analysed. If it be associated with fused glass it is useless for the
purpose, for the simple reason that the smooth surface of the glass
fails to afford the requisite gripping surface to the cement. Unless
care be displayed in this connection disintegration of the block will
set in, in which event the concrete will be condemned as a failure
when, as a matter of fact, it is the ignorance of the individual and
the presence of the glass which are responsible for collapse. Similarly
it is essential that the aggregate should be free from organic
material. This may be intensely dry when the mixing of the concrete
is taken in hand. But the organic material will absorb the moisture
after the manner of a sponge, continuing to do so until completely
saturated. As a result of this action the material necessarily expands,
and so will bring about the breakdown of the concrete. Therefore, if
full advantage be taken of the chemist specializing in constructional
material in the scientific preparation of concrete, as is done in
Germany and the United States, failures will be few and far between.

The authorities of our towns and cities are called upon to handle
5,300,000 tons of dust and rubble collected in the dust-bins of the
population during the year. In addition millions of tons of similar
refuse accumulate from the consumption of coal and coke by the
thousands of industrial establishments scattered over the country. How
much of this huge yield of waste is turned to industrial account? But
an insignificant fraction, as is proved by its commanding no market
value. Certain enterprising authorities, such as the City Fathers of
Glasgow, by taking a little trouble, are able to dispose of the whole
of their output of this residue and at a profitable figure. Surely what
can be done by one authority is capable of being achieved by others up
and down the country.

But clinker waste is not the only refuse adapted to building
operations. Concrete is something like paper--can be made virtually
from anything. There are few building sites which are not capable
of yielding something in this respect. This was demonstrated very
conclusively in the course of the development of an estate in Ireland.
The work was most comprehensive, involving the provision of factories,
workshops, farm buildings, and private residences. To prepare the
site it was necessary to remove a substantial hill. Instead of
excavating the obstacle, dumping and levelling the soil in the usual
manner, it was turned into a “Winget” machine to be converted into
concrete blocks, which were then utilized as the wherewithal for the
construction of the buildings. The result was conspicuously successful,
and it is doubtful whether the development scheme could have been
carried out so economically and inexpensively in any other way.

There are welcome signs of revived interest in the possibilities
of concrete for the building of our homes. In many parts of the
country there are enormous hillocks which at the moment are nothing
but eyesores. The pottery district may be cited as a case in point.
These disfiguring piles have hitherto been ignored, although the
localities are clamouring wildly for increased housing accommodation
to satisfy the demands of their citizens. Yet these heaps are really
potential mines of wealth. Associated with cement and deftly fashioned
they can be converted into concrete bricks, the waste constituting
ideal material for the aggregate, while, should we be sufficiently
enterprising to acknowledge the possibilities of the poured cement
house, their value is equally established. No city, town, or village
in these islands should suffer from a shortage of houses for its
peoples, and none need tarry for bricks. They have ample constructional
material at their very doors to build as many houses as they can
possibly desire. To turn these potential resources to account it is
only necessary to abandon our moth-eaten shibboleths, revise our laws
and regulations governing building operations, forget a good deal of
what we are supposed to have learned in the past, and turn to science
and engineering with a more enlightened spirit. By combining the artist
with the engineer and the chemist, and by admitting the utilitarian
possibilities of waste, all the difficulties assailing this country
at the present moment in regard to one of its greatest sociological
problems might be overcome, and the inhabitants of the British Isles
provided with drier, more comfortable, and more durable and artistic
homes than have ever been brought within their reach during the
centuries which have passed, and at a fraction of the cost which is now
held to be inevitable if brick is to be employed.



CHAPTER XX

THE FUTURE OF THE WASTE PROBLEM: POSSIBILITIES FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT


What is to be the future of the Waste Problem? This is the question
agitating all circles to-day. The observance and practice of economic
methods are being forced upon us owing to the high prices which are
obtaining for every description of raw material, whether intended for
the table or the factory.

To a certain degree the action is automatic, from the simple
circumstance that supplies are strictly limited. Money does not
constitute such a determining factor to-day as was the case five years
ago, although of course it still exercises a far-reaching influence.
But the mere fact that an adequacy of raw materials cannot be procured
merely because one may be disposed to pay fictitious prices, is
stimulating interest in the waste issue to a degree which, under
conventional conditions, would never have obtained. In times of plenty
one does not pause to consider for a moment as to whether it is worth
while to devote any time and energy to the exploitation of a certain
refuse.

But the great question is one not so much concerning what we can derive
from wastes, but whether we have really digested the lessons which
the enemy has taught us. On every side we see startling evidences of
what he was able to do by scientifically turning over and using the
rubbish-heap, and the great wealth he was able to acquire by following
such practices. We found ourselves hit at every turn and, in the hope
of solving the critical situations which arose, were forced to follow
the enemy’s example and become a nation of _chiffonniers_. We have
acquired wealth in the process, have discovered the value of the mine
which the junk pile represents, and realize that more wealth still
remains to be extracted from such untapped resources.

We have also become intimately conversant with what may be described as
the most perplexing phases of the problem, the greatest of which is the
segregation and collection of the residues. It is upon this rock that
all future effort regarding the scientific exploitation of waste, in
these islands at all events, is in danger of being wrecked.

The mere description of what we ourselves cannot use in the course
of our operations, as waste, or rubbish, invests the project with a
dangerously false atmosphere. Being regarded as worthless there is a
tendency towards the opinion that its collection and segregation should
be conducted along honorary lines. This is a precarious policy, because
it repudiates the fundamental law of the labourer being worthy of his
hire, whether it be in ploughing, the smelting of steel, shipbuilding,
or the collection of waste.

Simultaneously another immutable law is being flouted. All matter,
irrespective of its character, which is capable of being considered as
a raw material, must command a market value. It may be high, or it may
be low, but the fact remains unchallenged that it possesses a certain
intrinsic worth. Refuse, which can be worked into something useful,
is just as much raw material as a shipload of ore, or a consignment
of gold. It is its mere classification as waste which imperils its
commercial significance. This is demonstrated by the sudden importance
and value it instantly commands when it becomes labelled, not “waste,”
but a by-product.

In these circumstances, therefore, it would represent a decided
progressive step if a recognized market could be established in waste
products. By so doing all residues could be given accepted commercial
values with which one and all might become acquainted by perusing
quotations, in precisely the same way as the movement in the prices
of raw materials may be followed by reference to the daily or weekly
market lists. Until such time as wastes become so recognized the
uncertainty of supply must obtain, because it is the very ignorance
of the subject which contributes to the loss of such material through
fire and other equally destructive measures with its appalling loss of
wealth.

The establishment of a market price for all and every description
of waste would act as the direct incentive to preserve anything and
everything for further possible use. This was proved very conclusively
during the war, when bones and paper were in such urgent request, the
one for the reclamation of the fat, and the other for re-pulping. Under
normal conditions both wastes had received indifferent consideration,
and immense quantities of the two materials suffered complete useless
destruction by fire. The premium placed upon the price of bones was
only ½d., or 1 cent, a pound, the butcher being regarded as the
collecting medium. That is to say the bones would be paid for at the
above rate upon surrender to the butcher. The reward was not high, but
it proved to be sufficient to induce people to husband their bones
and to dispose of them in the recognized market. It was the same
with paper. The average housewife devoted but little attention to
the harvesting of this waste until she learned that the authorities
were ready to pay 1d.--2 cents--at least per pound therefor through
its accredited agents. Instantly she commenced to display thrift, and
was somewhat surprised by the money which could be picked up in this
manner. Yet it is safe to assert that had no financial value been
placed upon these wastes barely 50 per cent. of what was actually
secured would have been forthcoming.

Unfortunately there is a large class of waste exploiters which is
disposed to trade upon the ignorance or indifference of the community.
In the knowledge that the average house, office and factory has no
conception of the value of its refuse, or is ready to part with it
for nothing because it is regarded as a nuisance, the waste merchant
is disposed to become discriminatory and autocratic. He is perfectly
ready to acquire what he knows full well possesses a distinct value so
long as he can get it for nothing. The moment the owner sets a value
upon the flotsam and jetsam the waste merchant will have nothing to do
with it. He assumes an indifferent if not a dictatorial and impossible
attitude to which the second party to the projected bargain takes
immediate exception. The upshot is that sooner than part with the
material for nothing, and in the knowledge that the acquirer is certain
to sell out in turn at a profit, the material is withdrawn completely
from possible circulation, and so suffers irretrievable loss. To
barter is human, and this applies as forcibly to waste as to houses,
commodities and produce in general.

The waste market must be set upon a firm and solid basis. Those who
have specialized in this field of trading during the past few years,
and, as a result, have become acquainted with its possibilities, and
the true value of such material as is to be obtained through the
devious channels, are in the position to effect such a reform. The
price of waste is naturally subsidiary to the fluctuations in the
market quotations of the materials whence it is drawn, as well as
of those normally employed in the industries to which waste may be
applied. The general conditions are decidedly more complex than those
prevailing in the handling of straight materials, for the simple reason
that then only the one market needs to be watched.

Factors of cost also require to be closely followed. In the true
economic and scientific exploitation of all waste products the question
of cost is vital. It may easily jeopardize such utilization. Naturally
a margin of profit must be available from the working-up of the
material, not only to ensure its use, but also to safeguard the sources
of supply. This margin must be determined, not on the top of the market
as is the case at the present moment when conditions are abnormal,
but when prices for raw materials are at their minimum. If, then, the
exploitation of waste can be conducted in such a way as to compete
successfully with ostensible raw materials, recovery must hold its own
to become more and more profitable as the market rises. By-products can
be exploited only so long as the cost of preparing them for commerce
proves profitable. If it should become cheaper to treat raw materials
for a similar article then waste reclamation must suffer abandonment,
except in those rare instances where every contributory source of
supply must be pressed into service. Such conditions rarely obtain
on a low market, because the latter is directly attributable to the
circumstance that supply is in advance of demand. It is the inversion
of this law which forces high prices.

Efforts have been made to stimulate the preservation and surrender
of waste along voluntary lines. But such measures cannot hope to be
commercially successful, except under peculiar circumstances, as for
instance when patriotism may act as the incentive. The voluntary
handling of waste must of necessity prove wanting because it is
deficient in discipline, method, and organization such as science
demands to fulfil the conquests she indicates. Compulsory measures
are absolutely imperative, otherwise all the mickle which makes the
muckle must slip through the meshes of the net, no matter how well it
may be cast. The Germans were enabled to bid defiance to the world,
notwithstanding the stringency of the blockade, by the elaboration of
rigid laws ensuring the collection of all waste. Such measures were in
force more or less during the halcyon pre-war days, but were severely
tightened up when national existence was seriously threatened. Similar
compulsory methods will need to be introduced into this country to
ensure the full recovery of valuable materials for industry, that is
if we are to reduce our purchases from abroad. The desired end can
be achieved indirectly by prohibiting the acquisition of the obvious
raw materials from foreign sources, because instantly the refuse and
residues capable of taking the place of the raw materials will commence
to appreciate in value and accordingly will be preserved and utilized.

But the citizens of Britain are opposed to compulsion in any and every
form. To impose such conditions is to interfere with the liberty of the
subject, although absolute and unfettered freedom, as experience has
adequately testified, reacts against the welfare of the individual and
the community in general. Failing uncompromising compulsory measures
is it possible to achieve comparative success by spontaneous private
enterprise?

To obtain an indication of what can be achieved in this direction it
is necessary to go to the French capital. There an enterprising and
energetic Frenchman, Monsieur Verdier-Dufour, undoubtedly built up one
of the largest businesses in the world--founded upon dust-bin waste.
The organization was somewhat intricate and full of inner workings
although highly effective in the production of results, because the
guiding spirit knew that everything has its specific use.

The operation commences in the gutter at the bin in which the
householder has dumped his refuse and which he has moved to the
kerbstone for collection. Now the Frenchman is a cute bargainer, as
the whole world knows, and the concierge, after the passing of the
ordinance compelling the householder to bin his refuse, promptly saw
a means to improve his pocket. The bin was a lucky dip and accordingly
was well worth exploiting as a concession. He promptly drove a bargain
with one class of the vast army of Paris waste-gatherers which entitled
the individual to rummage the bin before the collector came along, the
only requirement being that the “miner” should be up early and on the
spot before the refuse carts commenced operations. The _placier_, as
this individual is called, did his work well--the bin contained little
of material value after he had sorted its contents. But other less
luckless members of the garbage-rummaging fraternity did not spurn to
submit the tailings from the first process to another treatment and
reap a harvest in the process.

The odds and ends gathered in this manner, and which were of a most
diversified nature, for the most part found their way to Monsieur
Verdier-Dufour’s establishment, where the precise value of each
article, and the grade of each range of substances, became known to
the uttermost centime. Nothing was too small to be examined and each
article had its individual bin. The man at the helm knew the exact
application for each article, while he was a master-mind in following
the markets. When quotations were abnormally low he could hold on for
the return of better times. His waste commanded the admiration of the
firms with which he dealt because he maintained the standard of his
products which were exactly as described. Manufacturers merely had to
dump the waste into their machines, thus treating it as if it were
raw material. There was no interference with the rigid routine of
their business, nor were they called upon to expend a further penny in
rendering the waste suitable for their intentions. So the master-mind
built up a large and highly lucrative business and thus there was very
little household waste which escaped reclamation.

Co-operative societies among the rag-pickers supplemented individual
effort in this field. In this instance the process is simpler because
it is conducted along broader lines. Sorting is not conducted to
such a fine degree as under the individual system above described.
Consequently it suffers because lower prices are paid. Waste commands a
price according to the time and labour which will have to be expended
by the purchaser before such material can be safely turned into the
precise channels of the huge manufacturing machine for which it has
been acquired.

The objection to both co-operative and individual methods, such as I
have described, is that they can only be conducted upon the requisite
scale in the very largest cities where the volume of material to
be handled is relatively heavy. Waste must be forthcoming in a
steady stream of uniform volume to justify its exploitation, and the
fashioning and maintenance of these streams is the supreme difficulty.

Ostensibly, in this country we have the very finest machinery in
existence for the reclamation of waste of every description--the
municipal and civic authorities. But, as results have conclusively
demonstrated, they are the least efficient institutions in this
respect. The few cities which are able to point to great achievements
in this field are the very exceptions which serve to prove the rule.
They do so in the most convincing manner, and incidentally bring home
to us very vividly the enormous wealth which we are deliberately
throwing away through lack of enterprise and adequate organization.

The system is responsible for this deplorable state of affairs. The
average municipal engineer, even if anxious to excel in this province,
finds himself hampered at every turn. He is not vested with sufficient
authority or freedom to carry any carefully prepared scheme into
operation without the sanction of this, or that, Committee which,
as a rule, is notorious for its lack of practical knowledge, more
particularly in all matters pertaining to the value of waste. Then
the multiplicity of officials and their salaries reacts against every
possibility of a scheme being turned into a financial success.

It is a matter for serious discussion as to whether our whole system
of waste recovery, in so far as it affects municipalities, should
not be overhauled from top to bottom--even superseded. It should be
entrusted to private enterprise acting under licence. Were such a force
encouraged we might safely anticipate the provision of well-equipped
comprehensive plants, similar to those which I have described, for the
treatment of waste of every description incurred within the district
in which it operates. To this centre should be borne refuse of every
description for segregation and preparation for the mills of industry.
Private enterprise, from its close contact with the markets, would be
able to set prices at which it would be prepared to purchase waste of
every description from a dog-mauled bone to a worn-out scrubbing-brush;
a discarded daily paper to an abandoned straw hat or pair of tattered
boots.

By fixing prices for all and every description of residue preservation
and segregation at the source would be encouraged. The housewife,
caretaker of the office, and manager of the factory would see that
all waste was carefully husbanded, and that nothing possessing the
slightest value would be thrown away. The dust-collectors could be
encouraged to participate in the general round-up of waste by being
given a commission upon all useful material brought in. It might be
an over-riding commission to ensure complete and frequent collection.
It is only necessary to apply sufficient stimulus in the form of hard
cash to ensure that nothing is wasted. Private enterprise could carry
out such a scheme whereas municipal authorities are precluded from
following such a course.

Under private auspices it would also become possible to exploit the
waste accruing in our rural districts. Residences by the wayside,
hamlets and country homes from their isolation have escaped the
tentacles of previous recovery systems. No recognized specialist in
residues, with the exception perhaps of the wardrobe dealer, ever
passes their way to pay a call. But, with modern motor transport
facilities it would be possible to call at these possible scattered
sources of supply for anything and everything, and at regular
intervals, so that the owners might be induced to preserve their useful
materials. It is maintained that such collection would never prove
profitable. Possibly not when considered upon its own footing, but when
contemplated in a general scheme it would not only be lucrative, but
contribute to the higher efficiency of the plant employed from being
able to raise the working output to one more closely approaching the
maximum capacity.

Such a method of recovering the waste would stimulate competition
which, in turn, would tend to the hardening of prices to the advantage
of those who have waste for disposal. The plant would only need to
study local conditions in so far as the disposal of readily decomposing
refuse was concerned, such as that from householders, fish, meat and
other organic matter. The municipal authorities, by virtue of their
powers, would be able to ensure that this class of refuse was collected
and treated promptly in the interests of the health of the community.
Such waste as is not susceptible to deterioration could be sent or
drawn from distant points, according to the advantage of price offered,
as is actually the case to-day in regard to certain materials.

Private enterprise would also exercise another far-reaching beneficial
influence. It would not lag behind the clock of progress. Science
is ever advancing and the exploitation of waste lies in its true
scientific utilization. Under the present conditions inventive effort
in this province is not able to exercise the influence or reap the
benefits which it really deserves. The tendency to be satisfied with
what is already installed, no matter how inefficient it may be, is too
deeply implanted. On the other hand, competition is the lever which
impels private enterprise. To turn a blind eye to invention is to court
disaster.

Although we have made vast strides during the past few years in the
processes of reclamation and utilization of waste we are still far from
having penetrated the threshold of the new world of industry, science,
and invention which it embraces. The unknown lies before us. For
aught contemporary knowledge can say, other triumphs and vast fields
of conquest, comparable with those associated with the gas and oil
industries, are waiting to be discovered, and this fact is adequate to
foster experiment, research, and investigation.

We talk glibly of exploiting waste, but how many products entering
intimately into our everyday life are being passed through the mill of
reclamation? A little reflection will speedily exhaust the list. If we
look around we can satisfy ourselves how much and what a variety of
substances are still being permitted to run to utter loss. We have not
yet found a use for spent matches, or a means of retipping those which
have been scarcely lighted, despite the fact that this indispensable
attribute to modern civilization has increased from 300 to 800 per
cent. in price. How many typewriter ribbons are used by the tens of
thousands of offices in the country during the year, and what is done
with them when withdrawn from the machines as being unfit for further
service? What is done with the stones and kernels from the millions
of pounds of stone-fruits consumed during the year? The inventor is
still confronted with the prize which will result from the discovery
of an economic use for the 370,000,000 lb. of spent tea-leaves and
100,000,000 lb. of coffee-grounds left in our pots, cups, and urns
during the twelve months.

The lists of wastes awaiting profitable disposal are extremely
lengthy. Some appear to be as impossible of successful solution as the
discovery of the non-refillable bottle. But effort is not confined to
the perfection of processes for the treatment of untouched wastes,
because the real solution of this problem lies in the full scientific
utilization of the product reclaimed. The fact that a waste is being
exploited does not imply that such utilization is the most profitable.
Investigation may indicate another and totally different, as well as
more lucrative application for a certain material. So the inventor is
not confined to a narrow field; his opportunities are illimitable.

There is one outstanding factor governing waste reclamation which often
escapes observation. It is the only means whereby the cost of living
may be reduced. Obviously, if a specific substance, whether it be a
foodstuff or raw material for manufacture, be applied exclusively to
one individual purpose, and without the residues resulting from its
preparation, a certain quantity of which must necessarily be incurred,
being turned to any economic account, the one application must bear
the whole of the cost involved. It is by turning the residues to some
profitable account that the cost of the primary product can be reduced
to an attractive level, and the wider the margin of profit on the
by-products and the more numerous the latter, the greater the reduction
possible upon the quotation for the staple.

For instance, were coal still to be distilled exclusively for its gas,
the price of the latter to-day would be so high as to be prohibitive
to all but the wealthy. It is the ability to exploit from two to three
hundred, or more, by-products arising in the distillation process,
which enables the gas itself to be sold at a figure bringing it within
the reach of all. What would be the cost of our clothes were it not
possible for the mills to take the discarded woollen garments, shred
them, combine the reconstructed fleece with new wool, and thus produce
a new cloth? It is shoddy, or mungo, which has solved the problem of
good clothing at a relatively low price for all, because, to-day, there
are very few of us who could afford to buy suits made of 100 per cent.
new wool.

There are few spheres of activity offering such attractions, or holding
out such tremendous prizes to the persevering and brilliant of thought
as that identified with the exploitation of wastes. The field is so
vast as to be open to the endeavours of the layman as much as to the
master of knowledge. While many of the questions to be answered are of
severe technical significance, there are many which are equally capable
of solution by the man, or woman, who has had no technical training.
There are many “crown cork” problems awaiting solution, while there
is equal scope and opportunity for those possessed of the powers of
organization.

The opinion prevails in certain quarters that the present wave of
interest in the scientific reclamation of waste is merely ephemeral.
Doubtless this feeling prevails because of the extreme length to which
the fetish of cheapness and extravagance had carried us and which
shortcomings appeared to be so firmly ingrained as to form part of
the British character. To a certain degree prevailing high prices
are certain to persuade us to pay closer regard to this issue than
has heretofore been the case. Nevertheless, the longer such abnormal
conditions obtain the more impressed shall we become of the wealth
to be won from waste. They will compel us to strive to extract the
utmost from the raw material placed in our hands. They will induce us
to become more and more reluctant to discard a material after we have
secured all apparent worth which it appears to be capable of yielding,
from the fear that the ultimate residue may still contain something of
potential value which we have not succeeded in discovering.

While, doubtless, the gradual relapse of conditions to the normal
will exercise the effect of causing us to pay decreasing regard to
the value of the wastes, it is to be hoped that, by the time such a
stage has been reached, we shall have become so powerfully impressed
with the potentialities of residues as to continue to exploit them
instinctively. If such be the case we shall find ourselves in the
position of being better armed for the coming commercial struggle
with Germany, to whom waste has brought extraordinary wealth in the
past. Thus equipped we should be able to meet a remorseless and clever
commercial antagonist on more than level terms.

Of one thing we may rest assured. Germany, past-master in the art
of exploiting wastes, will exert herself far more strenuously in
this field in the future than she has ever done before. Economic
considerations will compel her to keep her foreign purchases of raw
materials down to the irreducible minimum and to force her sales abroad
to the absolute maximum in order to secure the rehabilitation of her
trade balance. To consummate this end she will leave no stone unturned
to exploit her refuse of every description to the full. No one knows
more than Germany what can be done with the so-called rubbish-heap,
and no other country is more cognizant of the fact that the industrial
exploitation of waste creates wealth. So it behoves us to keep a tight
hand upon our residues from household, office, and factory, and to
exploit them ourselves to our own financial and economic advantage.


THE END


  _Printed in Great Britain by_
  UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON



Transcriber’s Notes

Obvious errors in punctuation have been fixed.

Page 12: “preparation of magarine” changed to “preparation of margarine”

Page 38: “aggreeable surprise” changed to “agreeable surprise”

Page 44: “authorities succintly” changed to “authorities succinctly”

Page 121: “in these circumstance” changed to “in these circumstances”

Page 136: “rather then decreasing” changed to “rather than decreasing”

Page 141: “while thay have achieved” changed to “while they have
achieved”

Page 149: “a specialy designed” changed to “a specially designed”

Page 162: “peculiarly situate” changed to “peculiarly situated”

Page 272: “enchanced recovery” changed to “enhanced recovery”

Page 300: “naturally subsidary” changed to “naturally subsidiary”



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