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Council's Salva ises From £500 to £10,000 in Four Years

15th October 1943
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Page 22, 15th October 1943 — Council's Salva ises From £500 to £10,000 in Four Years
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Keywords : Law Of The Sea

The Successful Efforts Made by the Chislehurit an Sidcup U.D.C. Show What Can be Done bl Adopting a Systematized Scheme of Salvage ,ant bu Maintaining Continuity of Effort Despite Set-back and Adverse Circumstances

By John Ames,

MM., C.R.S.L., Cleansing, Salvage, and Transport Officer, Chislehurst and District U.D.C. Assistant lion. District Adviser, Ministry of Supply (Salvage Dept.).

AT T the request of the Editor of this journal I haveundertaken to set down some reflections on salvage work following the -experience gained during the present campaign, as. Salvage Officer to the Chislekurst and Sidcup Urban District Council: To be successful, in any capacity, it goes without saying that enthusiasm in the' task undertaken is vital. In order to launch a salvage campaign, personal experience has impressed upon me that an extra measure of this vital

driving force " is necessary. Courage to meet disappointments is also demanded in a high degree, and the objective aimed at must be perfectly • clear..

The reclernationof waste materials from domestic refuse is not a, new wentare, as a number of local authorities was operating refuse-utilization plants for the extraction of saleable materials, before the war, and further, the separate collection of paper from householders was becoming very popular. Local authorities were, therefore, already operating a public health service which could, by adaptation, be

• used for the collection—and in spme instances for the disposal—of material

handed out by the housewife. .

' Labour and transport ' were there. The 'former has been depleted, but much of it has been augmented by voluntary workers and, in this respect, I would like to pier a tribute to the splendid help. which voluntary organizations/such as the W.V.S. and the

• Women's Institutes, have given to local authorities. It was, therefore, obvious, that if the recovery of salvage from domestic sources could be carried out is) a• proper manner by all local authorities, substantial quantities of . useful materials, otherwise lost, could be made available for the war effort,

• To apply such a scheme, some form of central control was necessary and it was, therefore, no surprise to many of us when the Ministry-of Supply, in the

.011 early days of the war, set: up a Salvage Department, to advise local authorities on the recovery and disPosal of these materials, and when, later, it served directions on local authorities to organize the -collection and disposal of paper, metals, textiles, bones, and rubber within their respective are, and to make monthly returns of mate rials sold and stocks held, , In the early days there •tvere good, bad and indifferent schemes. However. as time went on, local authorities got into their stride anff the yields improved. It is, in my opinion, time to say that local authorities have made a magnificent contribution to the war effort in as much as they had, up to June, 1943, returned to industry no less than 4,500,000 tons of salvage to the value of 'approximately £12,000,000.

Modest Pre-war Income

It is not my purpose to give readers a picture of the national effort, but to try and give them a story of my experience in the campaign. The total annual income from salvage received by my council in pre-war days; amounted to approximately £500. In November, 1939, steps were taken to increase the,

salvage returns, Unfortunately, the difficulties.presented were great. Like many others, my council found itselffaced with the problems of preparing -against attacks from the air, and chemical warfare, with the result that labour and transport were diverted to

This end.

At the beginning of-1940, it was possible to get back to something resembling eormality, and a scheme was placed before the council with a view to improeing the collection of salvage. As a result, returns began to show a steady improvement, although difficulties were experienced during the Battle of Britain, particularly as the instatetions in those days were to " take cover." Experience taught us that we could not afford to run, to cover at

Hitler's request, but must stand up and face it if we were to survive and crush him.

As time went on, the results showed a steady rise and the public became. really salvage-conscious, but it was evident that the road would be hard and difficult. There was still a lot fo be done and, by hook Or by crook, the salvage had to be procured.. Sp6cial drives were arranged, :appeals madeto the men, lectures and talks aiven to cinema audiences, public and W.V.S. meetingslield, articles appeared in the Press, cinema slides were used, posters placed on Vehicles and last, but net least, nieeting,s of the Children's Sahli vage Corps were arranged, •

. One special drive was carried out for the collection of metal, the area being divided into two parts.. andtwo dates fixed (a Saturday in each case). Everyone was invited to place his, or her, metal at near the front gate as early as possible. In this connection, every form of publicity was used, the W.V.S. and the C.S.C. co-operating by canvassing from ddor to door, Those two Saturdayg will not easily be forgotten. Over 200tons were collected, and the total included a•large quantity of nonferrOus metal. The men did no* com plete their task until after midnight, • very tired, but in good spirits and proud. of their achievement. On the Sunday morning, it was indeed a sight to see this mass of metal built up in. onehuge stack towering over everything else. Many other drivee were arranged for other types of salvage, . particularly paper. , One of ,these brought in 60 tons.

Early in 1940, the collection of kitchen 'Waste commenced, special bins being provided on the vehicles: Later, the collectioe -was carried out by road sweepers, The latter scheme was eventually abandoned, and communal bins introduced. This scheme brought about the best results, and is still ta use to-day, roughly 729 tons of kitchen

waste a year being collected by this means. This is a good figure when one considers ,that many pig-keeperg carry out private collections.

During the 'Battle of London we naturally had our share of the bombing and, in addition to providing a service under severe difficulties, assistance was needed in other directions. In spite of what Hitler could do, the work went on. . In this connection, dumps were arranged and hon. salvage officers were appointed to take charge of each road to augment the service provided by the council. The Children's Salvage Corps was formed and it did spendid work ineallecting salvage-, and in faking out

ousters, leaflets, etc. To give some

idea of what was done in this direction, I might say that the children collected over 30 tons of shell splinters. Their motto was, "Pick it up and send it bark," The children were issued with badges showing -a Spitfire in flight, with "C. and S. U.D.C. Children's Salvage Corps " inscribed on it.

The Children's Salvage Corps was strengthened and improved at a later date and a committee was formed, this being composed of One District Salvage Officer representing each ward . (10 in all), with the W.V.S. centre organizer as chairman, Meetings were held and plans 'discussed and, in addition, the District Salvage .0A,cers were made responsible for the ot ganization in each ward, assisted by the post leaders and hon, street salvage officers. In -order to give the children some encouragement, special parties and entertainments were arranged at Christmas, together with special parades, .etc. In 1942, the first fete and sports day ivas held, each ward competing for a shield presented by the council. At one time, there were 250 hon.' salvage officers and 1,500 children in the salvage organization.

Early in 1941, the transporeservices, including the Civil Defenct, were

merged, and I was appointed to take over this work, which included 'the control of bulk Supplies of petrol. Although this involved a great deal of extra \vork, it brought with it some definite advantages in that it was possible to make the best use of the transpbrt. .

In April. 1941, it was evident that.

• theprogres•niade was substantial and the income received for the financial year, ended March 31, 1941, amounted to £,4,653. This was approxiniately

nine times the pre-war income.

For the year ended March, 1942, inecime -totalled £6,379, which showed that the trend was in the right direction. however, high as these figures were, they w-ere completely eclipsed for the year ended March, 1943„ the total income being over £10,000. At 'the moment there appears every prospect of this figure being exceeded in the. present financial year,, although, owing to the thorough combing which the.district has received, it is much more difficult to maintain these figures. The district has been congratulated on more than one occasion by the Ministry of Supply on its achievements in the salvage ,campa,ign, and everyone conberned is justly proud of this record..

A String Salvage Effort In appreciation of the good work done in this area, the Ministry of Supply askeThe council to initiate a,. string drive,and to set the pace for the country. This was gladly accepted, the schools in this particular instance being chosen as the best medium for collecting this valuable material. The drive was held for a month and, in that time, over 2f tons of string were collected, and handed over toa bomber pilot of the R.A.F. Chisletiurst and Sidcup had the distinction of collecting the biggest ball of string ever known, String is used particularly in the • making of paper required for charts and maps for the Services, and it is, there'fore, important that every scrap should

he saved.

Bones, which also play a vital part in our war effort, are collected by means of small cornainers fixed on lamp-posts'. These are emptied: three • times a week. Over 600 of these conitainers are, and have been, in use for

some time. No doubt, this is the best system that has been tried so far, and this is proved by the fact that, since their introduction, our bone output has trebled.

I would like to point out that we have all the bones we require. in this colyntry but, unfortunately, they are not being returned4for salvage. This is deplorable when one realizes that if we do not do our part, valuable ships insist be sent to such countries as India and the Argentine in order that our factories may have the supplies they require.

By way of conclusion, I would mention that salvage is now collected sepa1 rately from refuse, that is, 'salvage and refuse are picked up on alternate weeks, so that there is no possibility of their being mixed. In other words, salvage is dealt with as a separate service, women and youths being eniployetl as collectors. ,Variousschemes have been tried but, to far as I am concerned, this arrangement has proved the best.,

Since November, 1939, the total income amounts to approximately £24,000, and for a town-with a• population of 66,000 persons it is a good figure. .


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