Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-10-28
WATERFOWL REPUBLICAN.
WATERFOWL, WIS.
SAVED FROM THE DUMPS.
Where the Rubbish Is Picked Over-The
Worthless Things.

Worthless Things.
The new city waste incineratOr at the
foot Of West Forty seventh street is q
boon to the trimmers and sorters. Its
advantages are SO great that it is said
a higher price is paid for the privilege of
trimming and sorting than is realized at
any other dump in New York.
The waste separated from ashes and
plain sweepings is dumped by the carts
at the end of a long belt, four feet wide,
running in a somewhat wider trough Or
channel in the second story. On each
side of this trough is a row of hoppers
on shelf in each of which stands a
man. The men grab from the steady
stream of what other people have thrown,
away whatever is regarded as valuable.
Every scrap of paper or rag that is not
hOpelesSly dirty is rescued and dropped
into the hopper, falling to the floor be
low, where it is ba!ed. Every bit Of
| metal is picked out. All pieces Of wood
large enough to have any value are
saved, and if a feather pillow comes
along, however dirty it may be, it is
regarded as prize. Not whole bottle
escaped the eyes OF the eager trimmers,
but it is rare that sheet glass large
enough to be WORTH anything survives the
process Of throwing away, gathering,
hauling and dumping the waste.
ut seems said the contractor, ''that
everybody who throws away sheet glass
enjoys hearing it break Thousands of
pieces worth from 2 to 10 cents each
would fall into our hands but for this
human weakness. You'll see a man with
part Of a picture glass that would easily
square 10 by II inches walk up to an
ashcan and hurl the sheet fiat against
the farther side. If it is shivered by
the contast. he'll walk away with salts
fed smile, but if it doesn't break he'll
hunt five minutes fol something TO drop
in on top, Sc there will be nothing but
splintars lef+
1.-The bottles ere cleaned and sold after
having been carefully sorted. Bottles
with the names of remedies or manufac
turers blown in can always be sold to
the firms which first put them out at a
slight reduction below the price original
ly paid. Beer and soda water bottles
and bottles for popular lotions and
patent medicines. mineral water bottles
and ketchup and sauce bottles are the
most profitable. ANY unmarked bottle
will find a ready sale. Tin cans and
boxes are fired until the solder is melted
off. All that is bright on tin is saved
as it is valuable and easily recovered
The sheet iron that is left is practically
Yalueless. Cotton and linen rags are
w
newspapers and wrapping paper are
made into coarse wrapping and lining
papers again. Feathers are renovated
and made better and cleaner than new
stock.
"Bits of iron. cast. wrought or mall
leable, and steel, large CT small, are all
worth money. Lead and zinc are prizes
as are brass and copper. We don't get
very large quantities of silver and gold
Wood, of course, has considerable worth
if in large pieces, the larger the better.
Old chairs. sofas, beds, baby carriages,
broken boxes and barrels, fruit baskets
and berry boxes are not worth picking
off the belt A mattress that is thrown
cut is safer in the fire than anywhere
else ard it goes through without molesta-
ton and ta:ables into the hopper leading
to the furnaces with the rest of the stuff
we don't want, Of which straw and eX-
cesor form considerable part. The
stuff we do not want makes heat enough
to keep all the machinery of this plant
going. 1t would run 100 horsepower
engine all the time. New York Trib-
une.