WASTE NOT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 199, 14 August 1940, Page 5

WASTE NOT

, ■ —♦ — " SAVING OLD MATERIAL i COLLECTING CAMPAIGN TO COMMENCE Householders throughout the district may soon be called upon, probably by both the borough and the county* .to join a campaign "for ■ the salvage of waste material that might be put to better use in connection with the war effort. In every home there is the possibility of making some contribution and it is hoped that the campaign, when, launched, will receive the support of all. It is stated that Germany has reduced the saving of waste to such a degree of skill that 27 per cent of her munitions requirements at the outbreak of war were being retrieved from that source. Chemical treatment of table scraps and the highly scientific treatments necessary for the production of "ersatz" commodities is not contemplated and is, in fact, not practicable in the Dominion, but the saving of metal that would otherwise be wasted can play an important part. The immediate need is ffc>r such metals as lead, zinc, brass, copper, and aluminium, and for alloys of these metals. Every house throws out, from time to time, scraps of tinfoil and exhausted tubes in which tooth paste, or shaving cream, was bought. In almost every back yard and garden there are aluminium pots or dishes discarded from Ihe • kitchens, and possibly now used for feeding dogs and poultry. Space-Consuming Relics. In scores of sheds throughout the district there are stored old brass , lamp shades, fenders, and bed-steads ' which will never be used again for 'the purposes they were designed to serve. These are among the itemjs of salvage the country requires to help its war effort forward. Steel, wrought iron, and similar heavy classes of metal are not needed at present. Cast-iron on the, other hand, may be well worth attention. In an address to the Auckland Provincial'-Patriotic Council, Mr J. W. Collins, C.M.G., of the National organisation for the reclamation of waste materials, said it had yet to be decided whether there would be a general collection ,for all classes of materials or whether it would be best to have separate drives for each class. He suggested that suali things as paper or rags could ,be collected at tAvo —or three —monthly intervals, Avhile about 97 per cent of the metals could be collected from the householders in one drive. "In regard to paper," said Mr Collins,, "we have not yet come to an understanding with the two existing mills at Whakatane and Mutatira." Details of the cellection scheme in the Whakatane Borough \ and County will be announced as soon as they have been completed. In the meanwhile householders could assist by putting aside those "waste materials enumerated.