City of Berkeley Municipal INCINERATOR.
On January 26th, the arrangement of the city with the Signal Steamship Company, for the disposal of its refuse by carrying to sea and dumping, was suddenly terminated by the destruction of the garbage vessel, just outside the Golden Gate, with the loss of all hands on board. This necessitated an immediate provision for the city to care for its refuse otherwise. The municipal incinerator which had been closed for a year and a half, since the consummation of the arrangement to carry to sea, was opened, minor repairs made, a crew organized and operation begun on February 2nd.
During the previous period of operation, the quantity of tin cans, both large and small, was found to be so great as to interfere seriously with the operation of the incinerator, due to the impossibility of maintaining an even fuel mat and uniform draft. In order to correct this difficulty, an ordinance was prepared which provided for the separation of cans from combustible material. Due to the more or less mythical control which the city exercises over the collection of the refuse, it has been difficult to secure the satisfactory operation of this ordinance. It has been necessary to reject the refuse from certain collectors to secure even a measurable compliance with the With the aid of this separation, however, we have been able to operate for the past six months without the use of any fuel, and have had no difficulty in maintaining temperatures of from twelve hundred to two thousand degrees. These temperatures enable use to eliminate all odor and practically all smoke.
The collection of refuse remains one of the pressing problems for solution. As a corrective for the man inequalities in charges which existed throughout the city, a rate schedule was fixed which should govern the maximum rates that might be charged. We have attempted to substitute for the several independent competing firms now collecting in Berkeley, a single collector, who should have an exclusive privilege for the periods of the contract and who should furnish a bond for the performance of the work in compliance with the ordinances governing the same. The single hid received on this proposition was rejected as too low. This department has, gone into the matter carefully, and is certain the exclusive privilege should yield practically enough to pay for the operation of the incinerator and leave a fair margin of profit to the contractor.
With this idea in mind, bids have been called for a second time for a period of five years in the hope of making the proposition sufficiently attractive to bidders to enter into competition who would be able to in stall modern motor equipment and carry out the collection more efficiently and economically. Municipal collection alone will satisfactorily solve the problem and the provision for the city taking over the collection at any time has been incorporated in the new proposition. If the city's revenues were sufficient, with an expenditure of $15,000.00 for equipment and an annual appropriation of S25,000.00 for operation, we could now do what the individual householder, are now paying approximately $45,000 a year for, and do it better. This is another of the difficulties incident to our limited income.
ONE MONTH'S ACCUMULATION OF TIN CANS.
This picture of the dump at the Municipal Incinerator indicates the extent to which the separation of tin cans from garbage has simplified the operation of the incinerator. Prior to requiring separation, this mass was dumped into the pit and had to be taken through the furnaces. The man gives a measure of size of the clump.
Source: Seventh Annual Report of the Mayor and Councilmen
City of Berkeley, California
Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1916
Published under provisions of the Charter
