The Dust-Carts of Britain
WHEN Noah gave the Ark its spring cleaning, he no -doubt made use of methods somewhat similar to those employed in most of the towns of Great Britain in the removing of domestic rubbish. Last week we made a tour through London, and in a number of boroughs we saw how those responsible for the government of the Metropolis of the British Commonwealth consider that dust should he removed.
Two dustmen, with moustaches thick with dust, with hands and clothes dirty as a. coal-heaver's, were hard at work collecting battered bins and large wicker baskets, in which they removed the rubbish from the areas and front doors of the ratepayers and proceeded to dump the contents into open carts. The clouds of dirt and dust that arose fortunately warned the observant pedestrian in time to enable him to make a detour, but owing to the motor traffic this was not always possible. The ratepayers of Great Britain should take the matter ',into their hands and tell the municipal authorities that they are not satisfied with the archaic methods now employed. Mr. Arthur Greenwood, the. Minister of Health,, did not mince matters in a speech he made recently at the annual dinner of the Metropolitan Mayors' Association. He said that " the cleansing in London was a scandal to the capital of the British Empire " ; that until the question of public cleansing was solved, " London would have no right to hold up its head to the world," and he added that he was determined that the matter should be settled on a comprehensive basis and not by each metropolitan borough separately.
We congratulate the Minister of Health on his utterance, and we hope that he will not sheath his sword until the fight is won. But municipal bodies suffer from compla- cency, and we fear that the ordinary citizen will have to continue to raise his voice if the long-overdue reform of a proper system of refuse removal on up-to-date lines of domestic sanitation is to be introduced forthwith. It is a depressing thought for Londoners that there are a hundred cities on the Continent where up-to-date methods are in use, many of which we have personally inspected. The Director of Cleansing at Amsterdam, at the recent Conference of the Institute of Cleansing Superintendents at Blackpool, said that the matter of refuse collection was not one which his fellow-countrymen came to England to study. Social reformers are indebted to the New Health Society for much admirable work during the past few years. Their publication recently contained an admirable article on refuse storage and dustless vans and bins. Dustless fittings for dust-carts are, we understand, now manufactured in Great Britain of British materials throughout, and the authorities in the City of West- minster and in Sheffield are said to be experimenting with them.
Apart from the unhygienic methods at present employed of emptying open bins into open dust-carts and thereby scattering microbes and dirt in all directions, there is another objection to present methods. The exposed bins and baskets in which our dust and rubbish are kept pending a visit of the dustman are each one a centre of infection and provide an attractive feeding-ground for flies, wasps, rats and mice. Surely one of the most effecti -e methods of furthering the anti-rat campaign would be by ensuring that dust-bins were covered and air-ti :'ht. It was only after the Great Fire in 1666 that an organization was created in London to dump house- hold refuse in " laystalls " or places provided for the purpose. Since then various measures of sanitary legis- lation have been introduced up to the Public Health ,(London) Act of 1891, which is still in operation. But in the matter of dust-carts we seem to have made but little headway.
The most efficient system of refuse collection that we have seen on the Continent is undoubtedly that which includes the provision to the householder of a covered bin. We take the following explanation as to how the system works from the New Health journal : " Briefly the arrangement is as follows : Every household is provided with a special round bin. with a hinged lid and handle, which owing to its design has to be closed before it can be lifted by the handle, These bins are supplied in various sizes, according to the requirements- of the householders. The collecting vehicle is cylindrical, and is designed in various sizes for mounting on motor or horse-drawn chassis. Along one side of the cylinder, and at a convenient height for the dustman, are a number of recesses so designed that when the lid of a bin is placed in one of them, on tipping, a door is opened, thus permitting the contents of the bin to be placed in the cylinder ; in this way the dustman does not see the refuse at all. If for no other reasons, the following will be sufficient to commend this system to many people : (1) the job of dustman ceases to be degrading, as he could, if he wished, work in his " Sunday best " without fear of getting covered with dust ; (2) we have often abused neighbours and their loose-fitting rubbish-bin lids when at night, cats, hot on the scent of a fish's head, have knocked the lids off with a clatter ; (8) these special bins are very strong, and owing to the method of empty- ing, last much longer than the common type, which are banged about when being emptied."
We fear that before the campaign for introducing hygienic methods of dust collection into Great Britain is successful, much work remains to be done. We hope that our readers will take every opportunity of asking their local councils what steps they propose to take. There is no longer any excuse for the dangerous, dirty and unhygienic methods now in force. We know that some local authorities are unwilling to install dustless vehicles on the score of the expense involved in supplying householders with closed bins with lids. This objection should not be permitted to retard the reform so urgently necessary. Ratepayers surely possess sufficient public spirit to demand the best and most hygienic system, irrespective of the cost. The health of the community would immediately benefit thereby and the initial expense be saved in other directions.
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