COLLECTION OF WASTE MATERIAL

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 42, 13 November 1940, Page 6

COLLECTION OF WASTE MATERIAL

In view of the decision by the National Council for the Reclamation of Waste Material to include cast iron among the scrap metals wanted for war purposes, it would seem timely that attention be given to the efficacy or otherwise of the present method of metal collection. If a war task of this sort is worth doing at all it is surely worth doing well; yet, thus far, the campaign to glean nonferrous metals—if the methods adopted in the Wellington city and suburban area may be taken as typical—have been loose and halfhearted. The district committee has not lately announced the results of the appeal, but from the forelorn day-to-day appearance of bins which some time ago were placed at key points in the city, it would seem that apathy has been permitted to submerge most of whatever public enthusiasm was roused by tbe “give-and-bring” slogan. It is questionable whether the request to householders and housewives to bring parcels of metal to the central bins has tapped more than a very small fraction of the useful waste material in suburban homes. House-to-house, or at least street-to-street collection would be likely to show a vastly-improved result if carried out systematically and regularly. One thing appears evident: if waste cast iron is now wanted in certain areas in anything like the substantial quantity that should be available from attics, garden dumps and basements, some means of handy collection will be required. People cannot reasonably be expected to carry heavy cast-iron pots, parts of old bedsteads and lawn-mowers, obsolete fire-irons or sections of antique fencing when making business or shopping trips into town by tram or bus. or on foot.