in spillage or leakage on city streets, or in delayed 
collection following breakdowns. Delayed collec- 
tions result in conditions similar to those existing 
when service is infrequent or when collection is 
otherwise unreliable, namely: the overloading of 
refuse storage facilities. When collection equipment 
is overloaded or overworked, additional trucks 
should be acquired. Standby equipment should be 
available in the event of emergencies. 
Data on the types of vehicles currently used in 
collecting refuse is given by Hope ( 27 ). According 
to this report, a survey revealed that of 337 cities 
having municipal collection, 46 percent relied on 
open vehicles for the collection of refuse. About 
10 percent reported use of covered vehicles, only 
about 10 percent used compactor-type vehicles 
exclusively, and the remaining 34 percent used 
combinations of open and enclosed vehicles. 
Information revealed that of the cities reporting 
contract collection, 60 percent used open vehicles 
and only 15 percent used compactor-type vehicles 
exclusively or in combination with open trucks. Of 
cities reporting private collection arrangements 75 
percent used open vehicles and only 10 percent re- 
ported use of compactor-type vehicles exclusively 
or in combination with other types. 
Comparison of these figures suggest another 
advantage to municipal collection, that better 
equipment is more frequently used where munici- 
pally operated systems are in effect. 
Frequency of Collections 
Collection frequency has a definite bearing on 
refuse storage and therefore exerts an influence on 
fly breeding, rat food and harborage, and even 
mosquito breeding. Where garbage is collected 
separately or in combination only once each week, 
conditions are favorable for high fly production 
within the community. If some circumstance al- 
lowed flies to have access to the garbage before 
or after emptying the container or between col- 
lections when the occupant was placing refuse in 
the can, eggs may be deposited. Then there may 
be time before the garbage is collected for large 
numbers of fly larvae, ready to pupate, to migrate 
from the garbage in the container to a drier medium. 
Also, where garbage collection is infrequent, stor- 
age facilities are frequently overloaded and gar- 
bage becomes readily accessible to flies and rats. 
In some smaller towns where garbage is col- 
lected separately, rubbish collection may be fur- 
nished only twice a month or monthly, and in some 
incorporated towns a semiannual “cleanup day’’ 
is the only rubbish collection service offered by 
the municipality. When rubbish collection is in- 
frequent and irregular, accumulations of rubbish 
offer rat harborage and furnish artificial containers 
for mosquito breeding. 
If the community disposal system requires that 
garbage and rubbish be collected separately, in 
12 
