VALUE IN CAMP WASTE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1755, 22 November 1917, Page 1

VALUE IN CAMP WASTE.

AN EMINENTLY SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT. Glycerine used to be obtained mainly from seeds and nuts, linseed and copra, but now it is a by-pro-duct of soap, and so much of it is constantly required that the supply of oils and fats for soap-making has become a matter of great importance. Glycerine is used in largequantities for propulsive explosives. In the early stages of the war it was suggested that the waste of the army camps, in the form of bones and fat, might supplement the primary' materials from home resources, and the experiment made was so successful that the British War Office established plants for the treatment of such refuse in the various centres. Now one thousand tons of glycerine are annually produced from the Army collection, and this provides propulsive explosives for 12,500,000 shells. Waste fat from the ordinary household can be similarly employed, and although it is not expedient from the standpoint of economy to set up an official organisation for the collection of small amounts from individual households, or even from clubs, hospitals, or other institutions, private thrift and enterprise in the preservation of kitchen waste, and in its disposal to local collectors, may effect extraordinary results. The grease in kitchen waste bought by the rag and bone man is ultimately converted by a series of processes into a melted fat which is sold to soapmakers, and the by-product, glycerine, is tin ally requisitioned by the Ministry, of Munitions, and used for direct Avar purposes. Householders are therefore urged to give the home supply of oils and fats all possible encouragement by saving kitchen Avaste and disposing of it to local collectors.