On Saturday, January 13, 2007 7:30 PM [GMT+1=CET], Terry Streeter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Mike Stevens wrote: >> In East London there has been a successful feasibility trial for >> moving the tranbsfer of domestic rubbish from road to water. At >> present that one is waiting for somebody come come up with the cash >> to finance the change of equipment. > > Was this the Lower Lee plan, where BW were in partnership with the > local residents? As I understood the system, the local residents > chuck their rubbish in the Lee Navigation, and when it arrives at the > next lock BW fish it out and set it to one side. The next night the > locals throw it back in again (ideally) below the lock and the > rubbish makes its way on to the next lock. There are actually two new ginds of rubbish vessels visible on the lower Lee at the moment. One is the prototype of the "Waste by Water" project. The purpose of this is to enable Hackney's fleet of dustcarts to do their job with considerably fewer road miles. At present, on completing theoir round they have to drive to the incinerator at Edmonton. The new shceme would mean using a new type of dustcard the compacts the rubbish into sealed containers. At the end of its run, the dustcart drives to the nearest of several wharves when the full container is loaded onto a barge. The fact that the container is sealed means that these wharves don'tt need all the anti-pollusion controls of convention al waste transfer stations. The barge has been designed to that the container can be taken off the dustcart and put onto a platform at gunnel level in the barge using a conventional skip-hoise. Then the plartfrom on the barge is lowered hydraulically to give enough clearance under the bridges. The feasibiloity study was done with a dumb barge and tug. The final scheme, if it ever comes off, will use self-propelled barges. The downside of the scheme is that it means total replacement of Hackney's dustcart fleet with the new design, which the Borough canpt afford. As yet nobody's found a source of funding for it. The other is used for BW's (and contractors') clearance of rubbish and weed fomr the naviugation (which is badly troubled in the summer with duckweed and blanket-weed. This is a simple flotation collar that turns a standard rubbish skip into a mini-barge. Mike Stevens narrowboat Felis Catus III web-site www.mike-stevens.co.uk Defend the waterways. Visit the web site www.saveourwaterways.org.uk
