Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-06-28
BIG FORTUNE IN REFUSE.
THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS THROWN
AWAY IN NEW YORK WASTE.

There is fortune thrown away an
nually in the waste of New York city,
writes correspondent of the Philadel-
phia Record. The poor of Paris could
be well housed, fed and clothed with
the proceeds from the waste of this
city. This statement is not based on
mere supposition, but upon facts
CLEANED from an experiment which was
tried by the city authorities last year
in caring for certain portion of the
city's waste.
For period of IL months the refuse
and waste gathered from street clean
ing districts Nos. -, IA and 16 was de-
livered at special station, where it
was carefully separated into its con-
stituent parts and such as could be
utilized for any good purpose was sold
for what it would bring and the bal
ance was destroyed The area COW
cred included a population, according
to the census returns, of 116,525. Ev-
cry class of house, shop, store and
few factories are to be found within
the districts, so that the results of
the years work would form fair ba-
sis for estimating the value of the
waste of the whole city.
During the year 12,947 loads of sep
arated refuse from carts holding four
cubic yards, weighing 900 per load, or,
in the aggregate 1926 tons, was burned
as useless, and from to percent
was worthless, while about 81 percent
was marketable. The matter reserved
for caIa oontainc 0SQ e1G porpdc Of
paper, which was classified as follows:
Manila paper, 471,3S5 pounds; news,
803, 3,301 mixed. 442,S66; strawboard,
587,2OS; mixed wrapping, 1916;
books, 1890.
There was total of 576,S12 pounds
of rags, classified as follows: Woolen,
!, 1857; white, 41,450; mixed 1860;
black, 195,S25; bagging, 4S,055 twine,
21,070; softback carpet, 1875; hard
back carpet, 1880; wool carpet, 1885,
linsey carpet, 1880; old coats, 20,945;
stockings, 1880.
Among other articles there were
found S0,S40 pounds of old iron; 494
pounds of copper, 2O9O pounds of zinc,
1907 pounds of brass, 303 pounds of
lead, 1859 pounds of old rubber, &c, 100
pounds of old shoes, 400 pounds of hair
cloth, 765 pounds Of curled hair, 2100
old hats, IL loads of tin cans, 40 mat
tresses 2S90 barrels and 29,205 pro-
prietary bottles. Beside all this, it
must be remembered there was an i'm
mense amount of matter of all classes
gathered by the countless number of
rag and garbage collectors who do a
business Independent of the city de-
partment.
Taking these figures as a basis for
estimating the amount of refuse col
lected from the boroughs of Manhat-
tan and Bronx for this year, at the
same time allowing for the natural in
crease, it would amount to 10000
tons for II months. About 32 percent,
or 35,S40 tons, represents the paper
and rags
1t is interesting to note that the
daily newspapers in New York con-
sumo $50 tons of paper per day, of
which, it is estimated, one-half re-
mains in the city and is no sent into
circulation through the mails. This
one-half will amount to 63,S70 tons
during the year. To this vast paper
heap must be added the immense stack
of printed matter, such as circulars,
posters, advertising letters, etc., and
the refuse from the weekly and month
ly publications.
About one-half of this vast total of
waste paper finds its way back to the
manufacturer through private chan
nels while much of it is consumed in
the furnaces of Office buildings, insti-
tutions, and the like, with most un-
satisfactory results. For example, the
federal authorities in their building
down town undertake to destroy large
quantities of paper, and owing to the
fierce draft due to the tall chimneys
and the poor combustion, half-burnt
paper is distributed impartially over
the neighborhood. For weeks together
last summer the atmosphere Of sec
ton, including parts of Broad, Wall
and Exchange street was, at certain
hours, loaded with floating ashes and
half-burned scraps of paper, and on
several days in particular the walks
and pavements in the vicinity of the
custom house were literally carpeted
with charred fragments of burned gov
ernment records.
These crude methods of disposing of
this particular kind of waste are bound
to become a thing of the past very
soon, for steps are now under way
whereby modernized destructor, one
which is patterned after an English
destructor, will be installed before the
year is out. But it is not the intention
of the authorities to burn all the waste
paper. 1t will be utilized in two ways;
First, by the sorting and saving Of
that which is marketable.
While the worth of clean paper and
rags depends upon the demand and the
price upon the market quotations, yet
the records of the past few years show
the average would be about So per ton
the season through for good quality
of stock, and the poorest quality about