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REFUSE COLLECTION BY CONTRACT.

15th June 1926, Page 28
15th June 1926
Page 28
Page 29
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Page 28, 15th June 1926 — REFUSE COLLECTION BY CONTRACT.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

An Example of the Efficiency and Economy Attained in Certain Classes of Municipal Work by Encouraging Private Enterprise.

MHERE are many conflicting views upon the question _L as to which classes of municipal work should be carried out by the municipality and which submitted, for tender by outside contractors, and one branch in particular which constitutes a large part of the controversy is that of the collection of household refuse.

Many municipalities have rigidly adhered to the principle that such work should be dealt with entirely by municipal officials and their staffs, but, in the opinion of others, this, for many reasons, is not always a wise course. Perhaps the most important of these is that a council often commits itself to an expensive system which may eventually prove less effective than modern methods. If the work had been done by contract, the council would be enabled to change to a better system upon the expiration of any particular contract, and, of course, if it desired to do so.

Every contract contains penalty clauses, and it is, if anything, easier to keep a contractor up to the standard of efficiency than is the case when a council does its own work. Municipal enterprises run y direct labour are not always so efficiently carried out as when they are conducted by private enterprises run by business men. This may appear to be a sweeping statement, and we do not wish to cast any aspersions upon the efforts of many exceedingly capable municipal officials who superintend this class of work. The reason is chiefly due to the fact that the contractor depends upon the retention and renewal of his contracts for his livelihood; consequently,. he exercises keen Supervision over the men in his employ and endeavours to obviate delays which mean a direct loss to him, and, in fact, he is often in eloser touch with his staff than is possible otherwise. .

It is, of course, essential that contractors should pro.

gross with the times and utilize the latest forms of equipment, and, as an example of what is being done in this direction, we•cannot do better, than instance the ease of the work now, being carried out by Mr. F, W., Surridge, of Surridge's Wharf, Wharf Road, London, S.W.18, whose methods have proved so satisfactory that he now holds contracts for the removal of all the house refuse in Wandsworth, Lambeth and Finsbury, meeting the needs in this respect of some 800,000 people and dealing with 160,000 tons of refuse per annum.

During a recent interview which we had with Mr. Surridge, we learnt with interest how this big business of his has been built up. After the Armistice, he, like many thousands of others, was at a loss to know what to do for a living. Six months later he tendered to Wandsworth for the " dusting" work for three wards, for which purpose he then employed horsed vehicles. This work he carried On until the middle of 1924, when the Wandsworth Council thought the time had come for 'the employment of a more up-to-date system than that by horsed carts, and invited tenders for alternative schemes. This move was chiefly due to the initiative of Mr. Elford, the progressive borough engineer and surveyor.

'Naturally, Mr. Surridge wanted to retain the work, and he looked round for a system which would prove more efficient and elastic than that in vogue, and finally settled upon the Pagefield. Curiously enough, some time previously he had considered that the container loads dealt with by horses were too big, and, at first, he criticized the system somewhat severely, but, laler after inspecting it in active operation at Southport, he was forced to change his views, and now considers it not only the best system but a solution to the majority of the difficulties experienced elsewhere. Consequently, a tender for the Pagefield system was submitted and accepted for a period of three years, a start being made with seven Pagefield lorries and 36 containers.

The Wandsworth Council considers the system so excellent that it has extended tile contract by a further seven years.

At this point it may be as velI to mention some of the advantages as given by Mr. Surridge. To begin with, the difficulty of long journeys for the horses has been overcome. Formerly each horse had to haul its full load for perhaps two miles on ordinary work,

and it was this long pull-which proved so trying. Now, under normal conditions, each horse is used in connection with the loading of four containers a day, two hours being occupied in the -collection of each load. For the first half-hour the container will be carrying up to 1 ton, for the second half-hour the load will rise to 2 tons, and so on until a full 4 tons is gathered. After one-and-a-quarter hours the nosebag is taken off the horse, and he -really works for three-quarters of an hour. Thus, whilst 4 tons is normally too much fot ordinary horse haulage, with the Pagefield container fitted with ball-bearing wheels the work has proved so easy that the horses have never beea so fit and fat ; In fact, it has become a practice to give a horse a rest by using it with a container. In this connection it is interesting to note that 12 horses from containers have been sent to the Horse Show, Regent's Park, and have collected 12 first prizes, on each occasion showing an efficiency of 100 per cent.; in addition, four Shire Horse Society's silver medals have been won.

The elasticity of the system is one of its greatest assets. If a container be smashed up by any chance, another can be employed. If one lorry has happened to break down and a spare be not available, the work can still be carried on with the horses ; this would also apply if a shortage of petrol ever occurred.

In "dusting" it is essential to work to schedule. Each housewife expects a call at a certain hour, and if this call were not to time the collection of the dust would, in many cases, occupy twice as long.

Another point is that the men loading proceed steadily from house to house without breaks, so that there is no likelihood of a: collection being missed.

In Mr. Surridge's opinion the horse cannot be beaten for the actual collection of the refuse, for in this work full advantage cannot be taken of the speed and long-distance travel capabilities of the mechanical vehicle, but for pointto-point work nothing can beat the latter. '

When working incongested areas, hehas found that whilst children will not play round a horse, they will congregate wherever stationary mechanical vehicles are found And even interfere with them.

One big advantage of the Pagefield system is that it saves a large amount of traffic congestion, and the lorries, with their containers, are comparatively incone sSicuous—so much so, indeed, that people passing through Wandsworth have been known to comment upon the absence of refuse collectors, when they have probably passed some on the road without recognizing them as such. .

. In collecting refuse with horsed vehicles, it is usual practice to send them all out together in the morning; consequently, they often return to the place of unloadhug together and cause congestion and what may he termed spasmodic bursts of energy. In the Pagefield system the work of loading and unloading proceeds in an even flow.

In some districts the vehicles have to pass through roads lined with stalls, and formerly dust often used to drop on to the exposed food, but this is a thing of the past, and further to prevent any risk of this happening' Mr. Surridge has Just designed a new and very effective cover sheet • for each container. • Some time after the Wandsworth scheme had been put into operation, Mr. Osmond Cattlin, borough engineer to the Lambeth Council, saw the great advantage of the system and invited tendera for a seven-year contract, that presented by; Mr.. Surridge being accepted, and for this task six Pagefield lorries and 28 containers are employed. Later still the Council of Finsbury became interested, and after going into the whole question of costs gave the work to Mr. Surridge for a period of seven years, and three Pagefield lorries, with 12 containers, are in operation. This is a particularly interesting example, as it shows that the system can be effectively employed in thickly congested thoroughfares which include City Road, Tabernacle Street, Chiswell Street, Old Street, Bunhill Row, Farringclon Road, Finsbury Pavement and the borders of Smithfield Market.

Each container is equivalent to three horsed vans ahd the change-over of a loaded container for an empty one averages four minutes. This has actually proved 'to be less time than is usually occupied in sheeting up, stowing away tools and getting away with the horsed vehicle. The workers themselves much prefer the new arrangement owing to the low load-line of the containers and the fact that, having done what is known as their "beat patrol,'' they are finished for the day, irrespective of time. When the work is light they load the containers three times only. and, consequently, finish two, hours earlier—a factor appreciated by the men. The disposal of the refuse for Wandsworth is arranged in several ways. Some of it is taken down river by barges to what is known as the "slink" area, where are situated the fish-offal factories, etc. Some goes to dust destructors and the remainder to screening plants.

The refuse from Lambeth is all taken by barge from three wharves—Nine Elms, Albert Embankment and Belvedere Road, whilst that from Finsbury goes to a dust destructor in Wharf Road, Finsbury, and some by river from 131ackfriars. The average haul in this case is a very short one to the destructor, but about two miles to Blackfriars.

At Lambeth the average length of haul varies from two-and-a-half to three miles and at Wandsworth from three to three-and-a-half miles. Where hospitals and other large institutions and firms are concerned, the quantity of refuse is such as to necessitate leaving a container for loading, and, apart from the special Pagefields employed in the collecting system, there are six ordinary Pagefield tipping wagons, two being employed in each borough. These are also used for such work.

All the overhauling and the major repairs are performed at the chief repair depot near the "Elephant • and Castle," tent the vehicles and containers are subject to continuous inspection •by mechanics and fitters at each depot.

Mt. Surridge naturally has strong views on the subject of how refuse collection should be handled and by whom. He points out that the contractor should be or/ given an opportunity for saving the ratepayers' money and that, incidentally, any profits he may make are subject to income tax and thus directly benefit the nation.

One councillor remarked to him one day that he was the best " foreman " the council had. He replied : "So would you be if you had all your money laid out in the venture."

There have been instances of councils questioning the advisability of changing their methods of collection and putting the work into the hands of contractors, from the point of view that at the end of the period of a contract advantage might be taken of their reliance upon external equipment to force up the contract prices.. Such fears are, in our opinion, groundless. The duration of the usual contract, where new equipment is provided, is usually seven years, and at the end of, say, five years a council can negotiate for the renewal of the contract; if the price be not satisfactory, it then has two years in which to invite other tenders or in which to arrange a municipal system of collection using its own vehicles.


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