Cleansing at Ipswich is Conventional but Flexible
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A Cleansing Department which Appreciates the Full Importance of Thorough Maintenance
T0 the unobtrusive but outstanding benefit of the 103,000 inhabitants of the county borough of Ipswich, public cleansing is operated on traditional lines, without, however, any concession to hidebound methods. Ninety per cent. of refuse disposal is by controlled tipping, but there is, in addition, a small destructor plant. The tip adjoins the River Gipping, which becomes the Orwell in the dock area of the town and flows out westward. Mr. L. A. Janes, Minst.P.C., cleansing superintendent, told me that his department has 21 vehicles, plus a
Chaseside excavator, and 12 Rice 15-cwt. trailers for salvage. Clearly, the department is comparatively well off for transport. Moreover, the vehicles are well kept. Eleven are Dennis 12-15-cubic-yd. refuse collectors with Transport moving floor bodies. Three of these Dennis are of. recent origin. There is also a Dennis 750-gallon gully and cesspoolemptier. One of two Karriers in use has Eagle 750-gallon gully-emptying and street-watering equipment, and the
other is an R.S.C. street sweeper. Also among cleansing vehicles proper is a Fordson 5-tanner with Transport moving floor. Other vehicles, of a more generalpurpose nature, are two Morris-Commercial, a Bedford, an Austin, and a Fordson, all 2-tanners, and a Fordson 2-ton van.
Mr. Jones said: " Give me rear-load
ing vehicles every time." Crews, he said, object to "poking about" with side loaders, and the large opening and the moving floor are, in his opinion. infinitely better.
" What do you do about waste food in this town? " asked. " Is there anything on the lines of the Tottenham or East Ham system?" "No," he said, .` but we have a thorough collection, and householders co-operate fully. The waste food is collected by the street sweepers in their orderly barrows." A separate food collection with special vehicles, in his opinion, would hardly be justified in Ipswich. Following the well-known practice adopted, by Tottenham Borough Council, waste food is converted into ,animal feeding stuff of a concentrated nature.
Householders are given every eacou
ragement to put aside salvable material. Each refuse-collection vehicle draws a Rice 15-cwt. trailer which has con tainers for salvage. For wastepaper, householders are supplied with special sacks, larger than the often-used but not altogether practical sandbag Wastepaper is collected free from trade premises.
As is the case with most refusecollection fleets, mileages are low. The town's 9,067 acres and its 32000 properties are scrupulously covered, but an individual vehicle seldom tots up more than 700 miles a month.
All now have starters, but it is not so long since cleansing vehicles were without them, and engines were kept
.running needlessly. This was a point brought out by Mr. Jones, in mentioning that petrol-consumption figures were highly satisfactory.
3,700 Gullies to be Cleansed There are as many as 3,700 gullies in the town_ One vehicle works full time on gullies, whilst the other -does both gullies and cesspools_ The gully and cesspool-emptier has a most valuable feature in its convertibility to refuse collection or general purposes. The tank body can quickly be detached.
For the size of the fleet, workshop facilities seemed to me to be generous, and certainly of an orderly nature. There is an invaluable item of equipment in the form of a 71-in. centre lathe. Other tools are a-big Denbigh drill with self-contained motor, a modern grinding head, and a Black and Decker valve refacer. Welding plant is of the oxy-acetylene type.
Working conditions are good and a repair pit eases maintenance. There are five fitters and four fitters' mates, two welders, two smiths and two mates.
The vehicles of the highways department, consisting of five Bedford 2-tonners, a Ford 10-cwt. van. two Chaseside I-cubic-yd. shovels, i Ransomes and Rapier excavator and two Muir-Hill dumpers, are also "under command " of the cleansing department, in respect of repair maintenance and recording.
Other vehicles for which Mr. Jones is responsible are two Bedford 2-ton tippers of the building department, a Fordson Thames and a Fordson 5-cwt. van of the waterworks department, a Pattison Ford 2-tanner and a Fordson lorry of the parks department, and a Bedford 1-tonner of the cemeteries department.
The Chaseside digger is invaluable for work at the refuse tips. Many operations come within its scope, including levelling and covering the material. Sealing of any refuse tip, by means of a layer of clean soil, is essential if good sanitation is to be preserved. A bulldozer attachment is used in addition to the shovel.
The department has five Bunce snowploughs which are used on Bedfords, and are most effective. Where " pressurs knobs" of ice form, the Chaseside. with bulldozer, is brought into operation, loaded if necessary with sandbags.
J.D.M.