PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING

Abstract

TN 1919 a privately owned rubbish salvage and incineration plant was constructed in Washington. Shortly after its construction prices for salvaged goods fell to a point at which no profit could be made and the District of Columbia took over the operation of the plant under a lease from the owners. Under municipal operation, the primary function of the salvage plant was to dispose of rubbish, but material salvaged reduced greatly the load on the furnaces. During this period of operation the plant was destroyed by fire and rebuilt, but the furnaces proved inadequate even under 24-hour operation to handle the rubbish collected by the District, not to mention that collected by private contractors, and it became necessary to dispose of all rubbish by burning on the available dumps. At the Washington Airport dump, private parties are allowed to dump rubbish upon payment of a fee to the airport authorities of $.50 a load. Material is deposited and picked over by a group of dump dwellers who at one time numbered over 200. This dump is fired whenever the wind is away from the city. Incidentally, a storm of protest from citizens associations and airport authorities, together with the anticipated completion of the two District incinerators, has resulted in an order