MILK-PLANT OPERATION. 



29 



Utilize exhaust steam whenever possible to heat water for use in the plant; also to 

 heat boiler-feed water, and to heat the building. 



Avoid waste of ice. Leaving ice on cement floors in workroom or exposed to drafts 

 causes unnecessary waste. 



Keep doors of refi'igerator room closed . Do not work in refrigerator more than neces- 

 sary, and do not lea\e the lights burning. 



Eliminate breakage of glass as much as possible. Bottles Itroken at the fillers cause 

 the loss notonlyof the bottles, butof considerable milk, often more than a bottleful. 

 Do not throw away the broken glass if it can be sold to glass blowers. 



Avoid extra labor by convenient arrangement of rooms and equipment, and by use 

 of labor-saving de^•ices, when practicable. 



Avoid as much as possible agitation of the milk in handling. 



MILK-BOTTLE LOSSES. 



The loss of bottles at milk plants is an important item. Estimates 

 of the large dealers in five cities were averaged, and, according to 

 their figures, the average life of a glass bottle was 22| trips. The 

 results are seen in Table 8. 



Table 8. 



-Estimated life of glass milk bottles as given by some of the principal dealers 

 in Jive cities. 



Citv. 



Washington 



Baltimore 



Boston 



Philadelphia 



Pittsburgh 



Average or total 



Numher 

 of dealers. 



Average 

 trips. 



12.60 

 18. 00 

 28.50 

 20.80 

 21.60 



22.25 



Varia- 

 tion. 



8 to 18 

 4 to 50 

 10 to 50 

 6 to 30 

 8 to 40 



4 to 50 



Bottles of various sizes cost (1922) in large lots, on the average, 

 6 cents each, so that if a plant uses 10,000 bottles and has to replace 

 them every 22.25 days, the expense is $26.96 a da}'. 



Some dealers now charge their family customers for all bottles 

 not returned and the custom of charging store customer for the 

 bottle is quite common. A ticket is usually given the store customer 

 when he pays for the bottle, and the amount paid is returned upon 

 the surrender of the ticket and a bottle. Where a bottle is returned 

 each time a bottle of milk is taken away no ticket or charge is re- 

 quired. A special bottle is often used for the store trade, and in that 

 case no ticket is required. 



One of the means used by dealers in many localities to reduce the 

 loss from stolen or misplaced bottles is the estabUsliment of milk- 

 bottle exchanges. Tliese exchanges are in operation in many of the 

 larger cities, where they serve as a sort of clearing house, mislaid 

 bottles being collected and returned to their owners. The establislt- 

 ments of the milk dealers are visited regularly and all bottles belong- 

 ing to other dealers are brought to the exchange headquarters, where 

 they are washed, sterilized, and sorted. Usually very little or notli- 

 ing is paid by the exchange for bottles collected in this way, but 

 sometimes dealers bring in their stray bottles, the price they receive 

 varying from one-fourth cent to 1 cent for each bottle. Bottles 

 brought in by junk dealers, ash men, or other persons are also paid 

 for. The city dumps are visited by employees of the excliange and 

 many bottles are obtained from this source. In one city where the 

 exchange kept a record of the number of bottles thus recovered, 



