WASTE PAPER

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 259, 31 July 1942, Page 4

WASTE PAPER

Commercial Collection Proposed PRESENT SYSTEM CRITICIZED

Collection of waste paper as a commercial undertaking or as a public service performed by the Government in co-operation with local authorities was proposed by Mr. E. W. Clarkson, secret tary of a joint committee dealing with paper supplies representative of the commercial printing industry- and the houses furnishing the industry’s requirements, in a statement he made yesterday. The cost should be borne by the commodity itself, he said. “This committee was set Up by the trades concerned for co-operative action in respect to the paper shortage,” said Mr. Clarkson. “Waste paper collection, as such, is not part of its job. It is, however,'most vitally concerned with local paper supplies for which waste paper is, at present, the moSt important raw material. It has noted the new regulations making-it an offence to destroy waste paper. It has also considered the various public statements, ineluding that.by the chairman of the. National Council for Reclamation of Waste Material.

“Faced with the plain fact that a New Zealand paper mill Is not running to capacity, and that because of a continued shortage - of waste once again cannot deliver to the trade the current month’s meagre quota, this committee is quite unable to share tho Optimism of the council, and neither can it see any prospect of improvement under the present system. If the chairman is correctly reported, the council, which must have endorsed the regulations, apparently does not expect the law to be generally observed, but hopes that sufficient citizens will have the necessary sense of duty to bring in supplies. “Much good work has been done in Wellington and some few other places by voluntary effort, but the salvaging of 10,000 tons of waste paper annually is a task of some magnitude. It is in excess of the quantity of printed and written matter which can be distributed in this country in wartime, and must be provided not only by robbing the rubbish bln and -the waste-paper basket, but from strongrooms, cellars, cupboards, bookshelves and attics. “All this calls for clear planning In respect to collection, handling jand transport. Many will consider this thinking should have preceded tho issue of , regulations ;■ all will agree that the work is of national importance and should, either be dealt with as a commercial undertaking or. as a public service performed by the Government in co-operation with local authorities. The cost should l>e borne by the commodity itself.

’.‘All credit should be given to schools for the work they have done, but if by any magic they could collect all the waste paper available In the Dominion outside shops and offices, the task of handling it would, in the opinion of this, committee, be hopelessly beyond the capacity of the existing depots. “The committee hopes that urgent steps will be taken to face the situation so that the best possible use can be made of New Zealand mills and of materials which make no calls on overseas shipping.”