MILLIONS FROM WASTE BY FREDERICK A. TALBOT Author of “The Building of a Great Canadian Railway”--“Inventions and Discoveries”--“The Steamship Conquest of the World”--“The Oil Conquest of the World,” &c., &c. PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN LTD. 1920 (_All rights reserved_) PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN PREFACE The reclamation and exploitation of waste products for a variety of industrial uses constitute one of the most fascinating and increasingly important developments in modern industry. It is a subject of which very little is known outside privileged circles, and the possibilities of which are but scantily appreciated by the average individual. The purpose of this volume is to indicate certain of the most obvious channels through which wealth incalculable is being permitted to escape, as well as the narration of something concerning the highly ingenious efforts which are being made to prevent such wastage. While written essentially for the uninitiated reader, the hope is entertained that it may prove of certain service to those who are fully alive to the potentialities of refuse of every description, and who are endeavouring to redeem the country from the charge of being wantonly extravagant in its use and consumption of raw materials, both edible and industrial. The subject of waste reclamation is too vast and intricate, albeit romantic and fascinating, to be treated within the scope of a single volume. Consequently I have confined myself rather to those phases which are familiar to the average person and to the losses which are incurred from their inadvertent destruction--losses which affect both the individual and the community in general. If it succeeds in acquainting the man-in-the-street and the woman at home with the enormous wastage, both of finance and kind, which are incurred in these most familiar fields during the course of the year, and persuades them to observe methods of thrift, a material contribution to the national wealth should be effected.