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39
would tend to cause the price of clothing materials to rise. (The cost of washing rags is said to
be from £7 to £9 per ton.) There is also a serious loss in weight after washing (10 to 12 per
cent.).
Rag sorting is generally done by women and they usually concentrate on one particular
branch of grading, i.e., knits, stockings, cuttings, garments, etc., the grading into ultimate
grades being a skilled occupation. In the case of the better class rag, the seams are stripped
and sold separately and all buttons and metal fasteners are removed. The most valuable rag
is the white knit —mens' white sweaters, childrens' knitwear, etc. Silk cuttings and rags do not
command a high price and are classed as low rags. Silk stockings are also a low rag, although
until recently large quantities were exported to Italy where they were pulled, mixed with wool,
and re-manufactured into light wearing materials. Materials impregnated with rubber are of
no value generally and are destroyed, except by one firm which has a secret process for extracting
rubber. No washing of rags is done on the premises of the wholesale rag merchants, but one firm
carries out bleaching and dyeing.
The purchase and disposal of rags is an industry of considerable importance, one firm
alone employing 300 workpeople and dealing with 15,000 tons of rags per annum (value approx.
£300,000). One industry, that of milling good class paper, is absolutely dependent upon the
rag trade for its raw material. It is also considered that woollen garments would either be
prohibitive in price or unobtainable if shoddy were not used, as it has been stated that the supply
of wool is inadequate to meet the present day demands. No effective substitute for linen and
cotton rags and shoddy have been found.

An empty, used bottle may pursue one of three courses: the dustbin; the rag and bone Bottles,
merchant; the shop where it was originally purchased.
An empty, used sauce bottle or jam or pickle jar may either be placed in the dustbin or
sold to a rag and bone merchant.
If a bottle or jar placed in the dustbin be of a type likely to be re.used, such as a wine
or spirit bottle or a standard jam or pickle jar, there is a possibility of its being salvaged by
" totting " during the removal of the house refuse, at the refuse disposal depot of the local
authority or on the refuse dump by a " totter." Such bottles or jars are then either sold
direct to the bottle washer, or to a retail dealer who in turn sells them to the bottle washer.
Bottles of a distinctive size, shape or cork fitting which are non.returnable to the manufacturers
of the commodity originally contained in them, end their life on the refuse heap or in
the furnace of the refuse disposal plant. Certain other bottles whose shape or cork fitting has
become obsolete may also suffer this fate or may be used by manufacturers for containing
some other product.
A bottle or jar sold to a rag and bone merchant, or salvaged from a refuse dump or disposal
depot, is then sold either directly to a bottle washer, or to a retail bottle merchant who in turn
disposes of it to a bottle washer.
A bottle returned to the shop where it was originally purchased full is returned to the
bottlers or distillers, who either wash the bottle themselves or else send it to a bottle washer who
is under contract to do the washing for them. The key man in the trade of second.hand bottles
is the bottle washer, a number of whom have been interviewed.
Briefly, the general practice throughout the trade both with regard to dealing in and washing
bottles is as follows: Bottle washers use either the hand or the mechanical method of washing
bottles or jars and usually concentrate on either washing wine and spirit bottles, or sauce bottles
and jam and pickle jars. Some bottle washers also act as agents for new bottle manufacturers
and in this connection undertake, in some instances, the washing of new bottles before delivery
to the customer.
The method employed generally by both the hand and mechanical washers is that involving
the use of hot water and caustic soda (sodium hydroxide). One washer uses dry soap and spirits
of salts (hydrochloric acid) for removing the crust from port bottles and paraffin and olive oil
residues from bottles. The majority of washers, however, smash all bottles that have contained
paraffin or similar pungent smelling substances.
In the hand method the bottles or jars are immersed in a tub of warm caustic soda solution
and cleansed with wire brushes. These brushes may be rotated by hand or mechanically.
The mechanical method is generally on the principle of submitting the bottles to jets of hot
water and caustic soda solution in a chamber. To facilitate working, the bottles are placcd
on a continuous band which transports them over the jets and thence out of the chamber where
they are hand examined. All bottles insufficiently washed are re.washed. Certain washers
then sterilise the bottles under pressure.