The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-08
PROFITS II THE orTY's WASTE.
Money That Could BE Obtained From
the Garbage Refuse


the Garbage Release.
Savannah has on an average 100 two
horse wagon loads OF scavenger refuse
per day. all Of which is cremated. yield
ing three cubic yards Of ashes or about
four tons. Probably two or three tons
Of ashes are gathered from door to door.
All Of these six or seven tons Of ashes are
now used for nlling ia low ground.
3lr c. B. Warrand. who has looked
carefully into the plans for utilizing the
city's refuses. furnishes the following in
teresting facts:
Ashes. he SAYS contain on an average
per cent. Of potash. which has market
value in crude material Of s. cents per
unite or $2.z5 per ton. equal 10 $3.50 per
Gay or over 5000 per annum, is thus ire
treviably lost
The potash Is recovered by merely
teaching the ashes and evaporating. Six
ions OF ashes would yield about GO pounds
Of caustic potash. worth cents per pund,
or $d per day. equal to $1,000 or $4,000
per year. The lcachcd residue is highly
valued as fertilizer and would sell readily
to truck farmers. The value OF such leach
ings ought to be nearly sufficient TO defray
the cost OF recovering the potash. Ac-
cordlng to the mayors last report guam
titles OF diseased stock was cremated dur
ing the year. The hides Of these diseased
animals are as valuable as those removed
from slaughtered ones The hides from
10 horses would have a market value Of
$500. Those Of as many cows would be
worth about $500. DOG ana cat skins have
a value of 20 and ID cents each. So that
there are at least 1929 worth of valuable
hides, uselessly destroyed, as the carcass
es Of diseased animals can be chemically
treated without any danger or menTce to
public health.
a plant TO treat this refuse animal mat
ter consists of large wooden or iron tanks
and the hayed carcasses and other mat
ter is placed from day to day in these
tanks, which are provided with tight
hitting covers. The contents are kept on
the boiling point for several weekc, steam
being preferable This operation is per-
fectly odorless and inonensive, especially
If a small quantity of acid be added. The
grease gathers on top and Is purified by
long continued boiling 1t is put in bar
rels and is used for soap or axle grease
making, and is worth from 3i2 to cents
per pound. At least $1,000 worth of grease
could be recovered.
The bones, when perfectly clean, are
worth about $50 per ton. The residue con-
sists of meat sinnews, etc, which are
boiled at the expiration of two weeks to
an impalpable mass. When cold this
forms very solid ielly-lke mass. which
is cut into cubes Of convenient sizes and
thoroughly dried Ii is then ground to
a fine powder, which rGSks in value about
midway between tankage and dried blood.
Tankage is quoted at so per ton and
dried blood at Si5 per ton The value
Of the offal product would be about $50
per ton, depending on its contents of am
monia.
Fertilizer works import from the north
and west thousands of tons of such ma
terial so that there would be no trouble
in selling all that could be produced,
which would not be less than 200 of 300
tons per year, aggregating between $1,000
and 5000.
New York city receives annually $780,
900 for the privilege of picking junk from
the various dumps. The privilege for Sa.
vannah ought to have a proportionate
value
The amount that could be recovered
from old tin cans alone would be upwards
of $l0O per month. The solder alone is
worth s to 10 cents per pound, old tin has
always market value; even the worst
is still employed in the casting of window
sash weights while the best brings good
prices and is used for various purposes
especially in making trunks. etc.
Night soil treated with acid becomes
inoffensive and has considerable value
as a fertilizer. Poudrette, one of the high
est priced fertilizers is made from night
soil
There is little doubt that chemical
works, equipped for such purposes would
pay well. If once established, the income
that the city could derive from selling
the various privileges, would go a long
ways towards making the crematory a
self-supporting institution, as the various
wastes as they now exist represent a pos
sible value of $4,000 or $4,000 a year.
The city ought to encourage the estab-
lishments of such works by offering the
various privileges at a nominal sum for
the first few years. and afterwards those
privileges could be auetioned off to the
highest bidder.
With proper restriction, cleanliness and
a wel-equipped plant. the recovery of the
various wastes, MIR. Warrand says,
would be perfectly harmless and would
not in the least endanger the sanitation
of the city.