MODERN METHODS OF STREET CLEANING 



Foreign household refuse is generally quite unlike the 

 American product; there is less kitchen waste, less 

 paper, and apparently less unburned coal. 



In only one city, Charlottenburg, did I see a division 

 and separate handling of the house refuse at all com- 

 parable with that in New York. In this case the work 

 of collection and disposition was done by contract. In 

 Berlin the custom is directly opposite to that of New 

 York in that the house refuse is collected by contract 

 ind delivered to the city for final disposition. 



More or less sorting of refuse is done nearly every- 

 where and in some places to an extreme limit. In 

 Paris, household refuse is sorted by rag-pickers upon 

 the sidewalks, by men and women in the carts which 

 collect the refuse from the houses and at depots in the 

 outskirts of the city where the material is hauled. 



In most British cities house refuse is thrown by the 

 householders into private pits where it remains for 

 periods of time ranging from a few days to several 

 months. On the Continent portable cans and boxes 

 are more often used. In some instances the cleaning 

 department furnishes receptacles, carrying them away 

 from the houses when full and returning them empty 

 after they have been cleaned and disinfected. 



The methods of final disposition are, in the main, 

 much the same in European cities. Much municipal 

 refuse is used for filling low land. Other portions are 

 used as manure and still other parts are burned. It 

 should be remembered in this connection that a large 

 part of what is properly termed municipal refuse is 

 composed of street sweepings, material taken from 

 privies and cesspools, cinders, and trade wastes which 

 are not readily inflammable. 



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