[Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Pudsey Borough.

  • Pudsey (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Pudsey Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The absence of a destructor caused difficulties to the depart¬ ment in the disposal of animal carcases, condemned and unwhole¬ some food, and other putrescible matter. Salvage Collection. Records were created during the ‘year in regard to salvage income, which produced a revenue of £2,528. To obtain this 505 tons of salvage were collected and returned to the trade. This increase brings the grand total of salvage since the scheme was inaugurated in 1940 to 3,596 tons, value £13,905. An attempt was made to revive the Salvage Steward Scheme, but without much success. I regret to say that the public are, on the whole, very lukewarm in their approach to salvage, and it was with difficulty that collections of waste paper, etc., were increased. The Ladies’ Salvage Committee was re-formed towards the end of the year, Mrs. Bernard Walker again taking over the duties of 'secretary. Mrs. J. Tordoff retired from her post as chairman after several years of splendid work in that capacity, and she was succeeded by Mrs. H. Wood. Several meetings of this committee were held, and I must thank the ladies for the co-operation they afforded me. The department participated in the National Waste Paper Drive during the months of March, April and May. Although we could not claim to be prize winners in this national contest the results of the local drive were very encouraging. A total of 77j tons of waste paper were collected, representing a percentage increase of 124% over the corresponding period 1947. During this drive I received very great help from the St. John Ambulance Brigade, the Boy Scouts, and the youth organisations of the Borough. I regret that it was impossible to obtain the co-operation of the school children in this connection. As a result of this drive, together with its publicity, the Council agreed to institute a separate system of salvage collection. Several salvage points were set up throughout the Borough and in addition many hundreds of sandbags were delivered to individual householders. The spare vehicle was put into use for this purpose, and the results obtained amply justified this policy. Comparison with other local authorities in salvage collection cannot be fair because of different conditions appertaining to each district, together with the advantages in plant some authorities have over others, but I am satisfied that the staff have done a good job of work in securing these results. The department was unable to dispose of large quantities of bottles and jars, and as a result collection of these articles ceased. The collection of kitchen waste continued in the Borough u; tier the direction of the Board of Trade. For the purpose of collection the Coporation had approximately 460 communal bins in the streets; these were regularly emptied and cleansed. I would point out, however, that the cleansing facilities for this purpose are very inadequate, and proper plant is required if thorough cleansing and sterilization are to be done successfully. During the year 228 tons of kitchen waste were collected and delivered to the Leeds Cleansing Department for processing. As has been usual during the summer months of preceding years several complaints were made by householders as to the presence of kitchen waste bins in the streets and the nuisance arising therefrom. It must be
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