The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-07-18
Utilizing Street Refuse.

From an experiment now being made
1t would seem that large portion of the
refuse of our city streets can be turned
to good account. 1t is well known that
numbers of Italians get their living, a
meagre one no doubt, by collecting
portions of the refuse found in the ash
barrels. 1t has occurred to one thought
full mind that the ragpicker might be
displaced by machinery, and almost six
months since company was organized,
with Mr.. James X. Price as president tc
make the experiment. The company
based its hopes of success upon an analy-
sis which showed that load of garbage
contained upon an average about 300
pounds of good coal, and enough rags,
paper, glass, tin, old shoes, and other
merchantable junk to make it worth
while to work it over Systematically. 1t
was necessary to success upon a large
scale to have machine which could
treat the garbage as fast as the carts
brought it to the dumps. Gigantic sleeves
were found to clog after few loads.
Finally box or hopper was constructed,
the floor of which was composed of NOV
able Stats like an ordinary window
blind. The hopper had an oscillating
movement which allowed the fine ashes
to fall through, and turned and shook
up the mass of other stuff, so that rags,
paper, glass, tin, bones, and other matter
of any value could be fshed out by
watchers. The mass was moved with
regular motion toward one end of the
apparatus, where it tumbled at last into
tank of water. The good coal sank to
the bottom and was brought up by buck
cts attached to an endless chain, while
the floating garbage was brushed off into
the scow.
been brought to the jackson street
dumping place, where the machine has
been placed, to supply its capabilities,
but this can probably be remedied. The
president of the company says that two
hundred loads could be handled with
case every day, whereas only forty loads
had been obtained to experiment upon.
Enough had been shown, however, to
prove that it paid to treat street refuse
in this way, and the next sitter which
would be placed at a dump where more
business was done would be upon a still
larger scale. The money received for
the bones, rags, ETC., found in each load
is of course small sum- but in the ag-
gregate it is sufficient to pay reasonable
profit upon the capital employed.
The uses to which the material saved
from the dumps is put are many, and
new ways are found every day of utiltiz-
ing stuff which has always been regard
ed as of no possible value. The fine
ashes are sold to brick makers, who use
them for hollow light bricks. The rags
and paper go to the paper mills. The
bones are worth $2j ton to the sugar
retners, who, after using the bone black
to clarity their sugar, sell it as fertil-
lizer. The glass is worth something,
and the old shoes go to the fertilizer fac
tory. The tin cans are subjected to heat
till the solder runs off into molds to be
used over again, and the plates of tin
are rolled out and sold to trunk makers,
who use them to strengthen their bags
and trunks. The coal burns well and is
s1ld to manufacturers Only about
twenty-five per cent. Of the loads were
rejec ted as worthless and sent to sea.
Ultimately the company hope to burn
even this refuse of garbage and mike
manure out of it.-NetO York Observer.