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CROYDON'S COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES
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THE large borough of Croydon, although by no means without industries, is primarily a residential district. Covering an area of 12,617 acres, that is to say, nearly 20 square miles, it now includes the less thickly populated district of Addington.
The borough extends nearly to the Crystal Palace in the north, and not far short of Purley in the south—'a distance of approximately six miles. On the west the boundary is marked by 13eddington, just including within the borough the Croydon airport buildings, and on the east, as stated above, it takes in Addington. The maximum dimension from east to west is roughly five miles.
For refuse collection the corpora
tion employs a fleet of 28 S.D. Freighters. Seven of these, acquired in 1930, are .3-tonners of 10-cubic-yd. capacity, whilst the remainder, the oldest of which -were bought in 1926, are 7-cubicyd. vehicles, built to carry 2 tons.
Seven Burford 30-cwt. tippers are used for street scavenging and generalhaulage purposes, whilst five Dennis gully-emptiers, purchased in 1931, are employed for street washing, etc., and for emptying cesspits, of which a few still remain in the Addington area.
The highways department runs, for road-repair work, a number of looden and Clayton 5-ton steam wagons and two G.V. electric lorries. Its rolling appliances include four A.veling and Porter steamers, three Barford and Perkins petrol rollers and two similar vibengined machines by Aveling and Darford and Perkins Ltd. Seven Raleigh and two motorcycles afford rapid and economical transport for the corporation's foremen.
Other machines owned by Croydon Corporation are a Ruston mechanical shovel, two Ruston Bucyrus excavators, two concrete-braking plants by the Consolidated Pneumatic Tool Co., Ltd., and one by Air Pumps, Ltd., whilst a number of concrete mixers and mowing machines of various makes completes the list of machines employed on municipal duties, includIng maintenance of the tramway tracks and numerous recreation grounds.
The public-health department runs an Austin and a Chevrolet ambulance, and the fire-brigade includes in its fleet three ambulances of Dennis manufacture. The fire-fighting appliances comprise
seven. Dennis fire pumps at the Croydon, Thornton Heath and South Norwood stations, their equipment including /adders, escapes, and . a 60-ft. &monis water tower.
Returning to the matter of refuse cob lection, the population at the end of March, 1932, was 233,115. There were, at the time that census was taken, 56,429 inhabited houses, shops, etc., and the refuse collected annually amounted, on average, to rather less than one ton per house, the exact figure for the total being 54,148 tons.
A collection is made at every house en.m a week, and in some cases—at certain hotels, for example—more frequent
collections are carried out. Without exception, the dustmen take the bins from the premises, that is to say, the ratepayers do not have to place the bins at the kerbside outside their houses.
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Two destructors, one situated slightly to the south of the centre of Croydon, and the other at Norwood, which is conveniently placed for the northern part of the borough, dispose of 56 per cent. and 26 per cent. of the refuse respectively ; 16 per cant. is pulverized, and the remaining 2 per cent. tipped. Scrap metal, glass and tins are sold, the last-named being first consolidated in the -usual manner. A proposal to erect a further destructor at Norwood is under consideration by the authority at the present time.
Covering a total onnual mileage of 133,432, the 28 S.D. Freighters each average 15i miles daily, which, taking the average haul from collecting centre to destructor as two miles, means to say that each vehicle makes four return journeys per day. Gangs of from six to eight men fill one vehicle while a
second is being emptied at the destructor.
We were informed that the average number of house collections made per week of five days by one such gang and two Freighters is 5,200. The borough is divided into sections, one of which is allotted to each gang.
All maintenance and overhauling of its vehicles and machinery is carried out by the corporation at the main Pitlake depot, where the majority of the vehicles is also garaged and refuelled.
Croydon recently carried out a trial of the Kleenaway system of refuse collection, in which a large_ paper bag is inserted in each empty bin, and its mouth closed when the bag is full, se that there is no spilling nor dust, and remnants of refuse cannot adhere to the bin when it is emptied. The experiment was made over about 600 houses in a residential area, and the system was found so satisfactory, and, we understand, so well appreciated by householders, that although it has temporarily been dropped, it has been decided to carry out a further trial to affect about 5,000 houses, and possibly to employ the system generally. By reason of the fact that the container is taken from the Freighter to the bin, insteadof taking the bin out to the vehicle and returning it, the length of "carry " can often be halved.
There is, however, the difficulty of the cost of the paper bags to be considered. At one penny each, which. -we understand is the approximate cost, they would raise the annual expenditure by 4s. 4d. per house. The corporation will have to decide whether this sum is balanced by hygienic and other gains.