New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-14
WASTE-BASKET GLEANTNGS.
THEY HAVE A CONSIDERABLE COMMERCIAL
VALUE TAKEN IN THEIR ENTIRETY.


VALUE. TAKEN IN THEIR ENTIRETY.
Down in a cellar at No. II City Hall Place, al
most within stones throw OF tho Bridge entrance.
ono may six seven Italians men and women.
sitting crosslegged on the floor picking away at
immense piles Of paper In front Of them. throwing
a piece here and handful there, not saying much.
but just pick. pick. picking all day long. Big bales
Of paper arc stacked up against the walls all
around them. and the only light that reaches the
place comes through the dirty panes Of glass in
the door and from a Pickering gasght in tho
Of the place.
The wrer In moment OF curiosity went down
the rickety stairs into tho place the other day.
The sitting the floor to the door
looked as II he might be the boss.
What are you doing here?" asked tho visitor
Waste pape." was the laconic response.
This encouraging. but still rather indefinite
ooh. you buy and sell waste paperT' ventured tho
inquirer.
YES" replied the Italian, who by this time was
gaining assurance seeing that the visitor wore no
brass BUTTONS or Health Department badge.
WELL where do you get all this stuff?'
"Bigga build all around" replied the merchant.
with sweep of his hand.
A glance at the piles of scrap paper the floor
supplemented this explanation to n wonderful ex-
tent. There letterheads OF well-known law
firms. crumpled and torn legal doc, ments and cir
culars and pamphlets without number. A few
miles of ticker tape tangled up with the rest made
up the mess which this thrifty merchant had col
lected from the 'bgga build all around" ana was
now engaged in sorting with his several assistants.
The big piles have 10 be gone over almost piece
by piece before they salable. The white letter
paper put In this basket. the brown paper In that
Here is pile of trimmings from book bind
cry. and there is the resting place Of part OF
the circulation of every newspaper in town. This
last named pile is almost worthless. for since the
been perfected old newspapers have little
value.
Some Idea Of the size Of this waste-paper bust
ness may be gathered from the fact that one of tho
downtown office buildings, which has news
paper Office in it swell its output. has from 400
TO 800 pounds of these scraps to dispose of each
week. The dealer In City Hall Place has no monop-
oily OF the trade. but does perhaps, little more
than his share. The ianitors and agents of build
ings only too glad to dispose of their waste
paper in this businesslike and systematic way
1t con hardly be said that the sale OF waste paper
ness among the owners OF the big buildings, yet 1t
makes a small addition to the earnings Of the jan
itor which is very acceptable. The insurance COM
panies moreover have clauses in their policies for
bidding the accumulation of waste paper. and arc
very strict as to their enforcement.
The quotations on waste paper vary from time TO
says that he pays about 80 cents hundred pounds
for the ordinary waste paper OF big building. lie
sells the sorted stuff for from 30 10 70 cents hun
dred The market is now at a low obb as will be
biz now. Gooda biz In summer time. McKin maka
gooda biz You voa McKin'?'
II Is seldom that anything OF value Is found In
the waste paper. One might suppose that pens.
knives, possibly money and checks, might he
picked OF the contents of hundreds of business
mems waste baskets. but such is not the case.