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New Light on Cleansing Problems

12th June 1936, Page 58
12th June 1936
Page 58
Page 59
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Page 58, 12th June 1936 — New Light on Cleansing Problems
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Keywords : The Cleansing

In Addition to the Exhibition of Cleansing Vehicles and Appliances and Various Other Events, Eight Papers Have Been Prepared for Discussion at the Conference of the Institute of Public Cleansing which Opened at Portsmouth on Monday Last and Closes To-day. We Give a Résumé ANUMBER of interesting papers was listed for reading before the annual Conference of the Institute of Public Cleansing, which opened at Portsmouth on Monday last and closes this evening. Following his installation, the new president, Mr. J. S. Rae, 1VI.Inst.M. and Cy.E., in his presidential address, stated that there has been a general upward trend in almost every sphere. of publichealth activity. Statistical records of disease and sick, ness and their effect on the health, comfort and well-being of the people, directed attention to tle question of sanitation and encouraged in every branch of the cleansing service,

: Recent changes that have taken place in public cleansing have brought abOut developments which have been both rapid and scientific. The mechanization of methods and equipment has necessitated skilled workmanship in almost every branch of the service.

Throughout the country, said Mr. Rae, there has been an ever.inereasing recognition of the beuefits accruing from the self-contained cleansing department, with a specialist officer in full control and directly responsible to the cleansing committee. The speaker mentioned that the chemist, the bacteriologist and skilled technician have each played their part in different phases of cleansing operations, and he paid a tribute to the Institute and the technical Press for making known to the smaller authorities the results of this work.

On the subject of suitable vehicles and appliances for carrying out the important work of public cleansing, the speaker took the view that the initial cost of such machines is not the most important factor. Maintenance and operating costs are of greater importance, and it is well worth while to pay a high first cost for any given machine in order to obtain the maximum efficiency.

• Reorganization at Portsmouth has Resulted in Reduced Costs of Cleansing Service.

On Tuesday, Mr. S. Allchurch, transport and, cleansing superintendent, Portsmouth, read a paper on " Public Cleansing at Portsmouth." He traces the history of the services of this town and explains that, prior to 1931, public cleansing in Portsmouth had no departmental status. The system was, however, reorganized and modernized at the end of that year and central and unified control effected.

For the purposes of administration the city is divided into two areas, each in charge of an assistant superin tendent, These divisions are, again, split up into ten districts, each being in charge of a district foreman, who is responsible for all cleansing matters in his particular area.

Costing is carried out by the city treasurer's department, and itemized details and summaries of costs of the various services are compiled weekly for the guidance of the superintendents. These weekly summaries have proved invaluable in promoting economic working.

Two collections weekly are made for ordinary household refuse, with a daily collection from hotels, restaurants and boarding establishments. For the purpose of the former, 23 Compactor-type vehicles of Dennis make are in operation, a further three being on order.

Controlled tipping is used for the disposal of the refuse, 90 per cent, of which is taken to two main disposal points, situated on the outskirts of the city. Whilst this entails a long haul, the areas treated offer splendid facilities for land reclamation, 'being previously water-logged tidal marshland. The low cost of disposal, together with the appreciation of the land treated, are great inducements to continuethis process for many years to come. . A salvage scheme is operated at the tips, whereby such 1340 materials as bottles, non-ferrous metals and woollens are reclaimed and sold by contract.

Street cleansing is carried out on the beat system, wiih a further arrangement whereby refuse.. collection vehicles are followed by a street cleaner with an orderly truck, whose duty it is to tidy up after the collection. It has not been found necessary to operate street-washing machines on a large scale, but various passages and alleys are washed by hand at frequent intervals. During the summer months channel washing is effected by two machines, one operating in the northern district and one in the south.

Three gully emptiers are used, two being of 1,000-gallon and one of 750-gallon capacity. The gully emptiers ,work two shifts per day, thus allowing for gullies and main thoroughfares to be cleansed at periods when conditions are most suitable. .

The paper concludes with a summary of statistics on the cleansing services, from which it is seen that the population of the city is 250,000, whilst the area covered is 9,223 acres. The cost of refuse collection and disposal for the year 1935-36 amounted to £45,889, the number of premises dealt with numbering 59,752. The total cost of the street-cleansing services for the same year was £24,000; 35,000 gullies are cleansed per annum.

A Contribution from Abroad Dealing with Cleansing in Helsingfors.

Each year the Public Cleansing' Conference is notable for a contribution from abroad and, following this procedure, Mr. E. Rosenbroijer, M.E., read a paper dealing with" The Public-cleansing Service in Helsingfors, Finland." Helsingfors, explains Mr. Rosenbroijer, is the largest port in Finland, and is a commercial as well as an industrial city.

The management of the public cleansing of the city is in the hands of a cleansing board (comprising seven members), this being directly responsible to the city council. The work of the department is under the direction of -Mr. Rosenbroijer, who is the managing director.

The climatic conditions in the country bring in their train a variety of problems to the cleansing department, and totally different methods must be used in winter and summer. The author, therefore, deals with the activities of his department in two sections.

In summer, street-cleansing operations are divided into three districts, and areas carrying heavy traffic are frequently sprinkled in order to lay the dust; they are also sprinkled before sweeping. Ten street washing and sprinkling machines are operated, and they are equipped with suction and pressure pumps, so that they may also be used for street washing.

Street sweeping is carried out largely by the orderlytruck method, but machine sweeping is used to some extent. It is interesting to note that, six years ago, the cleansing department bought five Karrier machines, which, said Mr. Rosenbroijer, work economically and efficiently. The dust plague in Helsingfors can be somewhat troublesome, due to the comparatively open situation of the town on the sea coast. This matter has been dealt with largely by watering between sweeping operations and, by the use of chemicals.

In Helsingfors, the winter period sometimes starts in the middle of November and may last until the middle of April. The snowfall is extremely variable and, during a hard winter the total, during the period mentioned, may amount to as much as two metres. The winter temperature is also variable within wide limits.

The winter work in the town is divided into seven districts and, after heavy falls of snow, it is sometimes necessary to engage a temporary staff of over 1,000 workmen. The main problem is to remove the snow as rapidly as possible, and the department now operates six heavy motor-driven ploughs.'

In cases where this cannot be done, motor-driven road planers, with cutters for dealing with packed snow and for the ice, are used.

Concerning the cleansing of .property, Mr. Rosenbroijer explains that the cleansing department is faced with a good deal of competition from a large number of private cleansing contractors in the town. The department now carries out refuse collection from about 75 per cent, of all house property in the town area, whereas 15 years ago it dealt with only 40 per cent.

Forty motor vehicles and eight horse-drawn vehicles are used for refuse collection, and the town is divided into two main districts.

A Symposium of Essays on Street Cleansing: Mr. Douglas Favours Pressure Washing.

On Wednesday, there was presented to the Conference a symposium of essays on street cleansing; the first, by Mr. A. L. Thomson, inspector of cleansing of Motherwell, dealt with " Street Cleansing Operations and Their Relation to Street Surfaces."

The author explains that a double-deck bus, drawing up quite slowly at a clean kerb, will disperse a large cloud of dust, whilst a six-wheeled lorry, loaded and moving at about 6 m.p.h. along a city road, will disperse a bank of dust house-high.

The qualities necessary in modern roads must include dustlessness and cleansibility, in addition to non-slip properties. It is a striking fact that, in many instances, where a non-skid surface has been attained, it does not facilitate thorough cleansing. Clean streets, says the author, maise safe streets, and it has even been argued that the week-end suspension of street cleansing so enhances the risk of road accidents that a Sunday service should be provided.

Road adhesion is a problem of particular importance to cleansing authorities. That the detrital matter may when wet behave as a greasy skin is common experience, verified in the laboratory and in field experiments. It is to be hoped, however, that rough-textured finishes, of a character that is dirt-harbouring and difficult to cleanse thoroughly, will not become general.

The author emphasizes that the greatest factor in securing a high co-efficient of friction is the presence in the surface of gritty particles, which impart a sand-paper texture. From the point of view of street cleansing, this is greatly to be preferred to a rough finish. The jointless, impervious, wear-resistant polished .surface may rejoice the heart of the cleansing official, but in wet weather it may well be a source of real danger to traffic.

Pressure washing is, in Mr. Thomson's view, the most effective way of cleansing a street The early prejudice against this method has died a natural death, and it is particularly useful for ensuring freedom. from surface film.

Street Washing Worth the Extra Expense Incurred: Influence of Climatic Conditions.

The second paper of the symposium of essays was prepared by Mr. T. Douglas, director of public cleansing, Hull, and is entitled "Street Washing, Gully Cleansing and Snow Removal."

Street washing, he says, is the best antidote for streets which have become greasy through oil deposits. Although the lighter street refuse of to-day is wafted channel-wise by swiftly moving traffic, it is the fine particles of dust caused by the attrition of road surfaces and rubber deposits which, when mixed with water in the form of rain, become especially objectionable and dangerous. This state of affairs is best nullified by thepplication of water under pressure.

Climatic conditions must be carefully studied before a street-washing programme is undertaken, owing to the liability of sudden changes. Street-washing methods, suggests the author, are largely governed by local conditions and no specific schedule can be prepared which will be suitable for all towns.

'Considering the question of cost, Mr. Douglas observes

• that street washing is well worth the extra expense incurred 'and that the adoption of a regular system is a sound in

vestment from an hygienic point of view and contributes, in no small degree, towards the health of the public.

On the subject of gully cleansing, it is evident, states the author, that the days of cleansing gullies by hand methods are practically ended, except in isolated instances where it is impracticable or undesirable for vehicles to negotiate narrow streets. The wide variation in the cost of this service in different towns is largely due, he suggests, to the lack of uniform construction of the gullies themselves.

Dealing with snow removal, Mr. Douglas suggests that.a pre-arranged programme, carefully prepared, is essential each year, and it should, moreover, be revised year by year in the light of experience gained. Main roads and bus routes should, as is their right, receive first consideration, the central districts taking priority. Early application of salt permits the necessary thawing action to take place before vehicular traffic becomes busy, whilst ploughing, if justified, may be commendable. An important point which must not be overlooked is that a wealth of transport should be readily available to remove the accumulated snow.

Organization and Costing of Street Cleansing Systems Discussed by Mr. Burrell.

" Street Cleansing: Organization and Costing," was the title of the last paper in the symposium, and it was given by Mr. A. J. Burrell, director of public cleansing, Halifax. He opens with a reference to the big effects of weather conditions and seasonal changes generally on the streetcleansing service, and suggests that it is undesirable for this section to be, in itself, a separate and distinct organization and that it should be arranged in close co-operation with other cleansing services. Periodically and without warning, occasions arise when the normal duties of staffs are of little or no value.

Regularity of street cleansing and fixed periods for gully cleansing are reliable and sound standards to observe, whilst allowing, at the same time, for sufficient flexibility within the department as a whole, to cope with any special circumstance. The change-over from trams to buses and the general increase in road traffic have brought in their train greater responsibility. It will probably be realized in future that, in case of frosty, slippery roads, especially in hilly districts, the speed with which the organization can get to work is of equal importance to that of a fire brigade.

Accurate costing of street-cleansing operations is of immense value, and suggestions are incorporated in the paper as to how any method can be applied to suit the requirements of a particular authority. Having obtained the cost of the service, together with statistics relating to work done, it is possible to compile unit costs. However much it may be desired to use this method as a comparison of the costs in different towns, it seems hardly probabk,s that a satisfactory solution will be found, owing to the large part played by local conditions. The compilation of unit costs does, however, deserve consideration from every angle, for the varying characteristics reflect on the value of costing in every phase.

Interesting Experiments in Dustless Refuse Collection at Sheffield.

The final two papers are due to be read this morning, the first being by Mr. Cyril Fox, cleansing superintendent of Sheffield, and he deals with the subject of " Dustless Refuse Collection Experiences at Sheffield."

A certain amount of experimental work has been carried out in this city and Mr. Fox claims that certain advances have been made. Reviewing the experiments, the author states that, in 1929, 3,000 Es-Em bins were purchased and substituted for the existing bins on a corporation housing estate. These were used in conjunction with an 8-cubic-yd. cylindrical container of the Neuey type, mounted oa a Karrier chassis and equipped with four patent shutters. The cost of collection for the six years for this .machine, .exclusive of capital charges, averaged 14s. 8d. per ton.

In 1931, 9,000 bins and two electrically propelled vehicles were purchased. One chassis accommodated a 12-cubic-yda s41 capacity cylindrical body, similar to that already in use, the other carrying a 13-cubic-yd.-capacity Faun-type container, Mr. Fox describes at some length the operation of the Faun body and, in this connection, remarks that experience has shown that the Faun body fills to capacity, has an appreciable measure of packing, affords a low loading line without diminution of body capacity, and can be mounted on a chassis giving excellent manceuvrability.

During the experimental period, the possibility of alternative methods has not been overlooked. Simultaneously with tests with Faun bodies, equipped both with Es-Em shutters and with Burrell shutters, vehicles manufactured by Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Co., Ltd., having capacities of 9 and 15 cubic yds. respectively, have also been used.

The latest scheme, approved by the city council as recently as last March, and which it is hoped to introduce before the end of the year, provides for the purchase, within the next five years, of 46 refuse-collection vehicles— the majority electrically propelled—equipped with Faun or other bodies, and fitted with Es-Em shutters. It is also intended to purchase 147,500 special ash-bins.

The Problem of Refuse Collection in New Estates and Large Buildings.

" Refuse Collection Problems in Newly Developed Housing Estates and Tenement Buildings and Flats," is the subject of the paper by Mr. B. Wheelhouse, supervisor of refuse collection for the City of Westminster. The great development in certain cities during the past few years, and the erection of large blocks of flats, have called for special consideration from cleansing authorities and, whilst the installation of chutes has found favour, consideration must be given to the question as to whether the chutes themselves can be kept clean.

Frequently, it appears that any sanitary advantage which is gained by tenants having easy facilities for disposal of their refuse is offset by the storage arrangements at the base of the chute. Suitable arrangements are not always made for vehicles to approach within reasonable distance of the chutes.

The author submits that one of the most effective and sanitary methods of refuse storage and conveyance for flats and large buildings is undoubtedly that known as the storage container system. The labour involved is much less than where a considerable number of duabins has to be carried to the vehicle. The system involves the use of a special vehicle or trailer, designed to carry the containers, but the saving in labour and time is well worth while. The popularity of the storage-container system can be judged by the fact that, in Westminster, there are now 170 containers on hire from the cleansing department, whilst further containers are on order.

Finally, the author mentions the Garchey system of refuse disposal, by which the household refuse in large buildings is incinerated on the premises. There can be no question as to the sanitary advantage of this system, but the heavy initial outlay makes it doubtful as to whether it will ever be widely established.


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