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KEEPING BLACKPOOL CLEAN.

10th February 1925
Page 30
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Page 30, 10th February 1925 — KEEPING BLACKPOOL CLEAN.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

How the Work is Organized by the Corporation and What it Costs to Perform.

Tipp LACKPOOL is one of the municipalities where each

_.7) department of the corporation service has a fleet of motor vehicles operated under its own immediate and independent supervision. The system has its advantages, chief of which is that the respective fleets, by being built up to meet certain specific requirements, can do their work efficiently and well, working under direct expert supervision. On the other hand, it may be argued that many branches of the municipal fleet, grouped under a single control, might be able to render a much greater all-round measure of service and at a smaller cost, by inter-hiring and a redistribution of work, to provide full employment for all the individual types. Both ideas are now being carefully examined by -a corporation sub-committee, which has recently had under consideration reports of the systems worked to in other towns. together with detailed data and with information gleaned by a deputation which visited Huddersfield and Halifax, where centralized control of the municipal fleet is recognized.

One of the most important departments of the Blackpool municipal transport is that dealing with cleansing, this department having a fleet of 16 machines in its service. They are of diverse types, and carefully selected to achieve the best results on the work they are intended to discharge.

The town has a normal population of 100,000, which, during the holiday season, increases to 250,000 or 300,000, yet the whole of the work of the collection of household refuse is done by ten electric vehicles, sometimes assisted by horse-drawn vehicles, especially at busy times, when an electric is required to figure in service as a water sprinkler instead of a refuse collector. For this purpose an interchangeable body is available for the chassis.

Of the electrics, two are 3i-tonners and eight 2-tonners--five of them being G.V.s and five Electromobiles—all of tifern being fitted with chloride 1M.V.7 or 1M.V.8 batteries, according to the load capacity of the units. The cleansing department also has two Laffly sweeping machines, two Harrier dust, sweeping and collection. machines (one a 2-tonner and the other a 5-tonner), a Laffly 1,250 gully emptier, and an S.D. freighter with special fittings, and used exclusively for the collection of fish offal. Over 600 tons of household refuse are transported by the vehicles of the Blackpool Corporation Cleansing Department every week. During the past municipal year the total collections of refuse amounted to 30.764 tons, the average being 2,560 tons per month, with 3,135 tons in the principal holiday month (August) and 2,364 tons in the quietest month (April). Seventy-five per cent, of this tonnage was dealt with by the corporation's fleet of light electric vehicles, to which have recently been added two additional units. 'These were purchased to cope with the increasing loads and to render less necessary the employment of horse-drawn vehicles. Household refuse collection in December amounted to 1,148 loads, totalling 2,712 tons.

The whole of the Borough of Blackpool is divided, for the purpose of dealing with household refuse collections, into ten sections, each of which provides a full week's employment for each electric vehicle. Four men accompany each colle.cting vehicle, three working on the floor carrying bins to the collecting unit and one emptying the bins and handing them down to the carriers. All of it is dry refuse, and, as a considerable use of gas-stoves is made by householde-:s, the average weight of the loaded bins is comparatively light. While the motors are travelling to and from the destructor— and the provision of a new one is under consideration—the men are getting ready the next load, lifting bins from their fittings, so that on the return of the collecting machine loading time is reduced to a minimum. One electric vehicle working within a half-mile of the destructor has collected anddisposed of as much as 78 tons of refuse, collected from.. as many as 700 houses, in one week—working the 8i-hour day.

In summer-time loads are more bulky, but very light. Since mechanical transport has been employed on this work, travelling time between the destructor and the section farthest distant does not exceed 15 inns., compared with at least double the time when horse-drawn vehicles were used. On test, the electric dust collectors travel about 15 miles per day each. Two of the electric vehicles, G.V.s, are equipped with interchangeable bodies, so that, when necessary, they can be used for street watering. For this purpose they have 750-gallon tanks, fitted with discharge pipes, the sprinklers of which are located in front of the fore wheels. During December, in the intervals between house-refuse collections, they sprayed 89,000 gallons of salt-water on the streets, or in the flushing of manholes, gullies, etc.

The Laffiy gully emptier has only been in operation a short time, and has given splendid service. The tank holds 750 gallons of sludge and 500 gallons of clean water. It is capable of cleansine'' 170 gullies a day, or four times the number capable of being dealt with by horse vehicles. Considering that 37,676 gullies were Cleansed during the past municipal year, it will be seen that this One machine is able to cope with the whole of this work.

ITha cost of road sweeping by means of the Lafily sweeper works out at about 6d, iper 1,000 sq. ft. The mechanical road sweepers, which travel at about six miles an hour, work revolving brushes, and it is the experience of the cleansing department that a brush is useful for about 90 miles, or 15 hours'. work. The Karrier combined sweeping and collecting machine, in the course of a full day, will gather as many as four loads of dust.

The S.D. Freighter, which has a totally enclosed body, is built with two platforms and sliding panel doors on each side. Its sphere of service is visiting all the local fish-shops each, day, and 'collecting in bins, provided by the corporation, fish offal, which is afterwards converted into manure. Each bin holds about 1 cwt., and the full freighter load is 36 bins. After being emptied and washed, the bins are exchanged at the fish-shops for full ones. The Freighter does the work of three horse vans, and, despite its frequent stoppages to pick up loads, its fuel consumption works out at a gallon of fuel per seven miles covered.

The cleansing, department applies itself assiduously to the reclamation of waste products, from which over £4,100 was realised during the past year. Even the plant for charging the electric vehicles is worked from the refuse-destructor plant, thus reducing the cost of charging the batteries to an absolute minimum. Hitherto the cleansing department paid £2 per week for charging of batteries. Now it is independent of outside facilities for charging, vehicles being It-charged overnight as a rule. One charge is sufficient for a mileage of 15 to 20 for vehicles employed on refuse collection, and 25 miles for street watering. Some of the chloride batteries now in use have seen four years' service without giving any trouble. All the vehicles belonging to the department are about to be fitted with mileage recorders.

All repairs, and overhauls are undertaken in the efficient and modernly equipped workshops of the department.

The figures contained in the tables .which are appended, will certainly prove of considerable interest to all those concerned in municipal work. It will be observed that, whilst the cost per ton of refuse collected by horse vans is 8s. 9d., that collected by the electric vehicles costs only 5s. lid. per ton, this including a depreciation charge of 10 per cent. on the cost of the vehicles (less the value of the batteries and tyres), whilst the charges for the batteries are based on a life of three years.

It will thus be seen that electric vehicles reduce the costs by 2s. 100. per ton, a figure which goes far to prove the economy of employing electric vehicles.

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