Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-09-20
Rotarians Hear How Waste
Material Can Be Made Into
Commercial By-products

A new industry is in prospect for
Honolulu, that of making commercial
products from the by-products Of tie
coconut. such as coir fiber and coconut
dust, of which there is an available
supply In the islands. The secret OF
the new industry together with the
plans contemplated was unfolded to
the Rotarians today at their weekly
luncheon by A. j. Fomilyant.
Mr.. Fomilyant submitted to the
gathering samples Of bricks and Sec
lions of pipe made from coconut dust.
A small plant is soon to be operated
on Liliha street, where after much
experimenting machine has been de-
signed to strip coconut husks Of their
fiber. ~
Mr.. Fomilyant opened his discus
sion by saying that "two years ago
the total coconut trade between Amer
lea and Europe on one side and the
countries Of the East, where the CO.
conuts are grown, exceeded $S43, 000,.
900. a figure that was only $73,000,00
less than the worlds gold output for
the same year, and which exceeded
the rubber business by $50, ,0O0."
Continuing he said: ........
"Coconut products are as follows:
I'd copra, yielding oil and coconut
meal or cake; (2) coir fiber; go CO.
conut dust; (4) coconut milk and 60
hard shell.
"The total worlds area under coco
nuts Is about 100000 acres which are
distributed in rough figures. as fol-
lows: Ceylon, 100000 acres; Philip.
pines. 100000 acres, tropical South
America, 100000 acres; British India,
$4,000 acres; Central America, 370,-
900 acres; small islands Of the Pa
cifc, including Hawaii, 100000 acres:
New Guinea and Straits Settlements,
1000 acres; all other tropics and
sub-tropics, 100000 acres.
1T is apparent from these figures
that some more than one-third Of the
worlds area under coconuts Is within
the territory of the United States and
on the American continent. ....
ION the other hand, the worlds an
nual trade in copra alone amounted
to some 100000 tons, which means
that some $500, 100000 coconuts are
being used annually to produce this
copra. " ...
"The making Of coir fiber offers
most exceptional business opportuni.
ties: everyone of you gentlemen owns
in his house one or more door mats;
almost every automobile il equipped
with COCO mats and mating; in all the
larger houses, hotels, all sort of pub
lie places, on the steamer decks-you
will find thousands and thousands Of
feet of coco runner-matting; coir fiber
goes extensively into such prime ne
cessity as O mattress; il Is an excel
lent material for rope, especially for
towing rope; It Is used q great deal
for the making of brushes, scrubbing
brushes especially, where it Is unsur.
passed for its wearing qualities.
AT the same time, the coconut
husk, from which coir fiber is pro
duced, is not only neglected, but with
a very few exceptions, is considered
and treated as q nuisance and as a
waste. a@-s ..y<..,.....
ITO give you some idea Of the
wealth wasted this way, ] am quot.
ing one Of July, 1917, Commerce Re.
POA CA006h NSNSA0S
are annually wasted in the Philippines
to make coir mats with wholesale
value of $22 SOC, 900. &" During the
year 1916 there were 735.GoO.O cr'co-
nuts gathered in the whoIe archipela-
60. - II is estimated from exrer-
fence in cleaning this fiber that ap-
proximately S0,S50 tons Of cCir might
have been realized from ne husKs OF
IL. coconr,s grown in the islaacs dur.
ing 1916
IT believe that we now have a mr.
chine which, with few refneuc1ts
added to It, is capable of making fiber
on q commercial scale and can he put
anywhere there are coconut hIsks in
quantities to keep the nIacni1e going
for raost Of the year.
Cr1des Of colr Fiber
with slight variations coir fiber IL
divided commercially in three rrin-
cipal classes: 9ristle fiber, for brushes
and door mats; spinning or mattress
fiber, for coir yarn, ropes, mats, mat