But it must not be forgotten that prices are steadily rising all round. Accepted raw materials are costing more, labour is more expensive, and the tendency in both directions is still in the ascendant. But even should prices and costs droop, it must not be forgotten that such a movement would be attended by the utilization of greater quantities of the articles concerned. They would be recoverable from the garbage in greater volume, and then it would be possible to keep the plants running to their full capacities for no heavier operative or overhead costs. Consequently, in the long run the disposal of enhanced quantities of tins, either as “bright” or scrap, at a lower figure, would probably prove more profitable in the aggregate than treating a limited supply, such as obtains under stringent economic conditions, at a high figure. How does a recovery plant of the foregoing description work out in practice? This is the vital question. Upon this point it is possible to advance some interesting figures. An investigation of the domestic refuse problem as it affects the country as a whole has revealed the circumstance of the contents of the dust-bin being tolerably consistent, whether it be drawn from a residential or manufacturing town, from the East-end or from the West-end, from the city or from the suburb. On the basis of the analysis set forth elsewhere in this chapter, and taking for our illustration a metropolitan suburb having a population of 85,000 souls contributing 100 tons of refuse a day, the possible recovery of by-products comes out as follows:-- --------------------------+--------+---------------+----------------- Material. |Tons per| Price per Ton.| Total Value. | Day. | | --------------------------+--------+--------+------+--------+-------- Fertilizer prepared from | | £ s. d.| $ | £ s. d.| $ fine dust and pulverized| | | | | debris from | | | | | washer and picking | | | | | belt | 65 | 0 1 0| 0.25| 3 5 0| 16.25 Cinders | 25 | 0 10 0| 2.50| 12 10 0| 62.50 Tins and metal | 2 | 4 0 0| 20.00| 8 0 0| 40.00 Paper (unsorted, dirty) | 1 | 7 0 0| 35.00| 7 0 0| 35.00 Rags | 0·5 |15 0 0| 75.00| 7 10 0| 37.50 Glass | 0·5 | 2 0 0| 10.00| 1 0 0| 5.00 --------------------------+--------+--------+------+--------+-------- Gross total per day |£39 5 0| $196.25 ---------------------------------------------------+--------+--------