The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-11-18
Dr. Coon Explains Why
 Garbage Costs Increase
(Continut d from Page One.)

collection service, takes away. each 12 months, 14,00O tons or 28,0OO,OOO , pounds of garbage. The collectons are made with regularity and with due consideration of the needs of { each district. The disposal of this large amount of waste has been car ried on by the city without reasona- hle cause for complaint and without nuisance.
 Garbage waste food from the . kitchen table, is organic material . which decomposes readily and soon /! i becomes offensive, unless quickly and | properly disposed of. Neglected, it | 1 at once becomes not only a nuisance , but a direct menace to the health of the people. Its proper care is l ! matter of great concern to all citi- zens. In small villages and small | communities, with habitation at a dis i ! tance from one another, garbage i produced by each family may be dls- posed of by burial or by feeding 1t | to swine, without giving oHense to neighbours In ncompact cities, however, disposal ! by this means is quite tmpractlcaple | and other methods must be brought 1 forth-methods which will serve the i communities whole and com mand the interest of city at hand 1 under their interest efficient col ! lection disposal of the waste to pro- duce in such manner that this waste shall not become a. nuisance nor menace to health. But, while to 7 gather up garbage from the home IS 1 simply matter of organized collec- tion service, it's sanitary disposal is | quite another problem, a problem, as | a rule beset with difficulties and with obstacles.
 Some cities have found it practica- l ble to dispose of this garbage by Humping at sea-a costly system and one necessitating an elaborate equip ] ment in tugs and barges All waste ! disposed of by this system must De [ rria n may not carry it back again to the shore; there to create a. worse nus ance than had it never been collected
 Cities on the Western coast, Tor time, found it practicable to dispose of their garbage, together with otheL city waste, through the filling in or waste landss but it is interesting to know that in at least one of these cities bids have been requested for the construction of a garbage reduc- tion plant. .
 In some communities garbage is fed to hogs in piggeries, located at a distance from the city. In some m stances the garbage is collected py the city, in others, the collection IS let out by contract and bonus palu to the contractor for his services still other cities dispose of their gar bage by incineration, that is, burn ing, or by cooking the garbage ana retaining certain of its constituents for what they are worth. Such d system is at present in operation in 
 this city.
 But whatever method is employed the primary purpose of thls system t,l is or should be, to so dispose Of the garbage that it shall become neither u nuisance nor a menace to health.
 How does all this apply to the local situation of our own community oi Bridgeport? Bridgeport is surrounded on three sides by communities that would probably look with entire dis favor on any plan which would in volve the dumping of Br1dgeports garbage within their limits either for filling or for pigSery purposes, ana when we consider land aVallable the cost of hauling would deter the city and certainly would deter any indiV1d- ual from engaging in any Such enter prise Nor does it appear practlca- ble to dispose of the raw garbage for either of these purposes wlthln the the limited confines of a city itself. For the city to provide marine equipment for dumping at sea is quite beyond the eyes of common sense, even II IL were permitted to dump III the WatelS of the Sound.
 should the city maintain a muni- cipal pigGery and feel the garbage to hogs, entirely aside from the pract1- cability of feeding raw garbage to hogs would come the question of suitable location in which might be kept the great droves of hogs neces- sary to consume the 1S'ooo,OoU pounds of garbage in one year as well as to properly dispose of the garbage these hogs would reject. Even at a conservative estimate considerably over 1000 hogs would be necessary to dispose of the garbage in a pig gerry, and as it has been pointed out some additional method would still be necessary to care for the waste the hogs themselves would produce or leave untouched, and the problem of waste disposal would commence all over again. Hogse are often tender creatures and prone to serious sick
  garbage. From a business stand point it should be borne in mind thai pork varies in price from time tc time and that the grower cannot al ways be aessurd of a favorable mar ket; a fact disagreeab1y borne home to many individuals and communitie! who have dreamed of profits iron municipal garbage fed to swine.
 It is not entirely unreasonable then, that in Bridgeport we are dis posing of our garbage by reduction system by no means perfect, no cit! has any perfect system, but systen which works very well indeed.
 Bridgeport maintains a garbage re duction plant which was acquire. from a private individual at a pric materially lower than that set upol it by competent and disiriterested ap praisers. This plant has been op erated by the city since April 1, an, until a complete twelve months O operation shall have passed 1t woul be difficult, if not impossible to stat with any reasonable degree of ac curacy the actual cost of disposal fo each ton of garbage delivered to tn plant. Through the system now il operation the garbage delivered to tn plant is dumped into great cemen pit, carried inward by conve eyors [ large kettles and cooked for a certai period. The water is pressed ou from the garbage and the availa bl grease removed. As a result of tn operations carried on at the plan the city finds itself the seller of tank age or dried garbage used as a fer tilizing material and grease used i the manufacture of soap.
 But, and this fact should be born in mind, the manufa cture of greas
 and tankage is not the purpose fc
 which the plant is operated by th
 city. The plant is operated to di.
 pose of the garbage of the city witt out offense and without permittin
 the accumulation of garbage to bt
 tn "