CUTTING REFUSE COSTS BY 30 PER CENT.
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Intimate Details of the Southport System of Refuse Removal, with a Close Survey of Costs.
AT one time, prior to 1914, Southport had the Unenviable" distinction of being one of the most costly of the county boroughs in England so far as refuse collection and disposal were concerned. To-day the positon is, changed, the cost last year being equivalent to a rate of 6id. in the 1. It will be remembered that, some three or four years ago, Southport took the initiative in installing the Pagefield system for the removal of household refuse, being the first munieipality in the country so to do. A saving of 30 per cent, in costs has been achieved, resulting in a reduction from 1.1s. 11d. per house per annum to 7s. 51d. per house per annum.
How successfully the system has worked was explained to The Commercial Motor by Mr. A. K Jackson, Minst.C.E., borough engineer of Southport. The motor fleet of the borough engineer's department comprises two 4ton Pagefield motor wagons, fitted with ramps and appliances for the conveyance of containers, which, when engaged in the actual work of clearing refuse from houses, are horse-drawn; two Pagefield
4-ton wagons employed on general haulage; one 2-ton Vulcan for runabout
work ; one 4-ton A.E.C. employed on the collection of: shot, refuse and miscellaneous haulage, and two new 5-ton ll'oden steam wagons, which render useful service in transporting heavy. materials, such as elle used. for road construction and other work. This mixed fleet has been built up so as to permit ach type of vehicle to be employed to
maximum advantage on specific work, yet permitting of a certain amount of interchangeability. The corporation are also big hirers of privately owned petroland steam wagons, some of which .work out-of-town traffic. Their own vehicles, therefore, are always assured of a good continuity of loads.
Southport takes an ,especial pride in the successful operation of the Pagefield system of dealing with household refuse, the whole of the town being worked by two wagons, one working three sections,
making 12 journeys per day, and the other working four sections, making 16 journeys per day. 'For the purpose of dealing with household refuse the town is divided into seven sections, whereas under the old 'system, when horses were employed, there were eight sections, involving the employment of 16 horses.
The conditions that obtain in Southport are not such as are found in most other towns. Southport, being a seaside ;resort, with a population of about 76,000, in addition to a great number of visitors in both summer and winter, is laid out on the garden city principle. It has an area of 18,333 acres, or 0,426 acres excluding the foreshore. The town is about 8 miles in length. The principal residential streets are about 48 ft. wide, with houses set back from 40 ft. to 60 ft. from the street lines. Even the working-class dwellings, mostly semi-detached, are set back from 20 ft. to 25 ft. from the pathway. The density of the whole built-up area of the town is 5.6 houses per acre, with a maximum of 15houses to the acre in the most densely built-up area. Consequently, the average length of the carry of the dustbins from the back of the houses to the dustcart is exceptionally long, being about 40 yds.
After the corporation had effected the supersession of ashpits by aslibins, thereby cheapening the means of getting the refuse to the transport, attention was directed to the problem of the most efficient transport system, and accordingly detailed consideration was given to three main systems; (I) horse, (2) motors, and (3) trailers. The conclusion was then reached that a combination of horses and mechanical transport would be most likely to give the best results.
From the outset painstaking efforts were directed to securing a well•designed container for the reception of the household collections, as it was felt to be in this direction that labour .costs &add be best reduced by Providing a. container easy to fill and large enough to contain a full loadfor the motor lorry. The
containers used at Southport have a maximum loading height of 4 ft. 8 ins. with a capacity. of 220 cubic feet, holding from 50 cwt. to 60 cwt. Thus, with the unladen weight of the container, a 4-ton load is provided for the lorry. The rear of the container is formed entirely of two doors binged on vertical sides, so as to give an absolutely free outgo for the refuse when tipping.
The work of collecting household refuse in Southport proceeds with a very " nice balance, standing time being practically nil. When one lorry works with four containers three of them are collecting-, refuse, whilst the fourth is on its way to or from the tip. The loading ganps are thus kept fully occupied and the lorry is kept on the move visiting each of the gangs in turn and leaving an empty container in place of the full one.
A few moments' examination of the daily motor haulage return (or the motor drivers' report sheet) gives a very clear idea as to how well the working day of the motor wagon is occupied. The most outstanding feature is the good sequence of loading.
There is only one man (the driver) with each lorry and four men, including the horse driver, with each container. Each gang i3 kept at work during the whole eight hours of their duty, as when four containers are worked in a threesection area there is no period of the day when there is no container ready for them to fill. An average of 33 tons per lorry per day is estimated to be handled in Southport by this method.
When the Pagefield wagon, having made its journey to the tip, returns to the section to exchange a light container for a full one, the horse and shafts are removed from the latter. The tipping frame of the lorry is tilted to an angle of 25 degrees and the sliding ramps are pulled out to the ground. The light container, held by wire ropes, is now ruu into the roadway and released. The loaded container, backed up to the motor lorry, is then drawn up the ramps, and, when in position, is held there automatically, assisted by a safety catch, and the tipping frame lowered to its normal position. In practice a full COIP Winer can be changed for an empty ono
in 41 minutes and the tipping operation is completed in about one minute, as against five or seven minutes when the old horse-wagons were employed. This latter economy is possible owing to the fact that the refuse is shot clear of the wagon, and no raking out is required.
The effect of the length of lead on working costs is clearly indicated in the statistical tables reproduced. The lengths of lead on six4ofthe sections operated under the Pagefield system are : No. 1, 1f miles ; No.. 2, l miles ; No. 3, 2 miles; No. 4, 21 miles; No. 5, 3 miles No. 6, 3 miles.
Southport has only one point of disposal, and this naturally means a long haul for the motor lorry when carrying refuse from the districts at the end of the town distant from this point. Ciratmstances have recently permitted the opening of a convenient tip, not having long sleeper tracks three-quarters of a mile long required on the foreshore tip. This has rendered it possible for the work of collection to be reorganized so that one lorry now operates four container sections instead of three. Operat
When the foreshore tip was used one lorry worked three sections and costs worked out at 10d,.. per house per annum more. The fa -043, mentioned to point
0 out that, in thiMstance, the use of a convenient tip in place of one inconveni O ently located effeeted a saving of about 10 per cent. The average length of lead to the ne* tip is 1.7 miles.
The position of the main depot in re • lation to the areas of collection also has • a bearing on coatings. Unless local O depots are available for the housing of 2 the horse-drawn containers at night time O there is an inevitable wastage of time. Two of the outer districts of Southport are therefore provided with accommodation for the' custody of containers after the day's work. .
With regard to the work of the department's fleet in-its entirety, an annual tonnage of about 45,000 is dealt with, exclusive of the tonnage handled by hired vehicles, which sometimes number as many as 15 per day. The A.E.C. lorry is mainly engaged in the collection of shop refuse. Up to a few months ago Yorkshire steam wagons, purchased in 1916, were in service, and their Places have recently been taken by two roden steam wagons, which cover an average daily mileage of 40 to 50 each, and transport loads working out at approximately 30 tons per day—six return journeys in local areas. The loads transported by the general haulage Wagons, including the .Vulcan which is a handy runabout machine engaged in running small urgent loads, constitute a miscellaneous assortment covering the whole gamut of requirements of a municipal engineering department.
It should have been stated earlier in this article that of the two general haul • age Pagefield wagons one is fitted so that it can be put on refuse removal work at any time. It is a stand-by wagon. Two containers -are also kept in reserve.