Evening star., 1933-04-07
Districts Incinerators
Should Be Maintained
To the Editor Of The star.

10 tne 8ditof OF The star:
The District Of Columbia has two
new incinerator plants with al modern
equipment. They were completed last
Fall and cost the District about $780,
600. One Is In Georgetown, near the
old canal, the other at o street south
east. They both stood the severest
tests, were accepted and are now oper-
attng with complete efficiency.
They burn trash, not garbage. Trash
Is Of two descriptions, household" and
commercial" Household trash Is col
lected from private residences by the
District trash collection service. Com
mercial trash comes from stores, fac
tories hotels, apartment houses and
the like, and 1t IS not collected by the
District service, but must be disposed
or regulations they may deliver it to
the incinerators, where 1t Is burned
without charge. At present about &c
per cent Of all coming to the plants Is
commercial trash. The total amount o1
commercial trash produced in the Dis
trict Is Not known. Much Of It Is still
burned at private dumps or otherwise
disposed Of.
The two incinerators together have
seven operating units, all Of the same
capacity-two at the GEORGETOWN and
five at the Southeast plant. They were
designed, or course, for future as well
Is present needs.
After few months experience 1t has
been found that continuous operation
OF four units at moderate Temperatures
will completely tncinerate all trash
coming In, both household and com.
mercial. The actual expense is much
less than the original estimates, which
ha
Notwithstanding the uncertainty
as to the amount Of commercial trash
that would be delivered.
At present both plants are In opera
tion-the two units at Georgetown and
two Of the i've units at the Southeast
plant. It Is now apparent that the
Southeast plant alone. under normal
conditions, could dispose of the present
volume with some capacity to spare.
Last Winter, during the debate in the
House on the District bill, and before
the fine performance of the incinerators
under normal working conditions had
been fully demonstrated, there was
some criticism both Of the plants and
the supposed cost Of operating them
and the bill then passed In the House
provided for closing the Southeast plant
entirely. The present bill, as passed by
eAS I1Ouoc, CO4lIdluS TIE same prOVlSlOu
In the following terms
mo part Of the funds appropriated
In this act shall be available for the
operation Of high-temperature incin-
orator for the disposal of combustible
refuse In the Southeast section Of the
District Of Columbia"
This language undoubtedly permits,
by necessary inference, the operation
Of the Georgetown plant. But that
plant Is too small to incinerate all the
trash now collected in the District, and
the surplus would have to be burned in
open dumps, to the discomfort of many
residents.
The cost Of these methods of disposal
carried on at the same time would
certainly equal or exceed the cost of
operating three or four units Of the
Southeast plant, whereby all the house.
hold trash can easily be consumed,
leaving the commercial trash, If neces-
sary, to be disposed Of by the originators
Of it. as formerly.
The reasonable course, then, would be
to strike out the above limitation and
leave 1t to the Commissioners to operate
the Southeast plant If they think it can
be done within the limits of the re-
duced appropriation.
II limitation is deemed advisable
1t should close the Georgetown instead
Of the Southeast plant. w. w. DYAR.