COLLECTION OF WASTE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 June 1940, Page 9

COLLECTION OF WASTE

SUBSEQUENT UTILISATION. GOVERNMENT SCHEME. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. The conservation and utilisation ol waste as a valuable contribution tc New Zealand’s war effort was discussed by the Minister of Supply, Mr Sullivan. in an address last night. He said he had a committee of business men from both outside and inside the Public Service working on a scheme tc organise the collection of waste and its- subsequent utilisation. Mr Sullivan referred to the response to the appeal he made last week for people to assist in uie conservation of salvable waste. He said that from the number cf people who had written and telephoned offering to supply quantities cf bottles, glass, bones, rags, metals, effeuts of paper and cardboard, he was more than ever convinced that the possibilities of salvage of waste were very great indeed. “A plan of organisation has been drawn up and will be functioning actively very soon,” said Mr Sullivan. "This provides for the establishment of representative district committees, which will undertake the direction of the activity and will comb the Dominion for useful waste. It will be collected in the different classes, deposited in central depots, which . the representative committees will secure. It will be sorted into defined classes and grades at depots and from there transported to its destination for processing, use, or export, as the case may be. “The knowledge and experience of existing waste dealers will be related to the activity of the organisation, and as far as possible in a way that will preserve their interests. I invite the co-operation of all organisations and people in this effort, and I am confident the response will be spontaneous.” Mr Sullivan said it was necessary to emphasize that it was not possible to accept ail the assistance and waste materials that had been offered till the necessary arrangements had been completed for its collection, transportation, sorting and distribution to the points where it would be utilised.

"It is the helpful duty cf all concerned to prevent avoidable waste and secondly to salvage that waste which cannot be avoided." said Mr Sullivan. "It may not be possible to collect or use all salvable waste right now, thought it may be extremely useful in the not distant future, so please conserve it in the meantime. In certain districts in France just after the last war and in German too, both durnig and after the war the salvage and utilisation of waste retrieved in these countries shows that, estimated on a proportionate population basis, New Zealand can retrieve waste to a value cf over £lOOO a day. This would amount to £365.000 a year.