City of Bradford By-Products Department : advert in The West Riding of Yorkshire official handbook, c1955
An advert from the highly informative 1955 official guide issued by the West Riidng of Yorkshire County Council. Most British local authorities issued such books, often produced for them as this is by the Cheltenham concern of E. Burrow. They describe the Council's services, the charms of the county, its boroughs and cities and the opportunities for both residential and industrial development. They are often a real 'snapshot' of the place at that time.
Many councils produced various by-products such as fertilizers as adjuncts to their gas, cleansing or sewage undertakings but Bradford was probably the only one who had an entirely separate Department to manufacture and market such produsts as listed here. As can be seen they made the proud boast that they were "the largest producers of wool grease in the world" - not a claim to be made lightly one suspects - and this was due to a simple, local situation. Bradford was one of the centres of the woollen trade and so their waste water contained a high concentration of lanolin and wool fats. This ended up at the City's vast Esholt sewage works where it was economically viable to seperate the products as part of the water treatment - thus saving the River Aire from even more pollution as well as making valuable by-products. Where there's muck, there's brass as they say.
With the collapse of the woollen textile trades the availability of such products and therefore their production at Esholt has ceased. The waste water works is still there, now run by Yorkshire Water.
City of Bradford By-Products Department : advert in The West Riding of Yorkshire official handbook, c1955
An advert from the highly informative 1955 official guide issued by the West Riidng of Yorkshire County Council. Most British local authorities issued such books, often produced for them as this is by the Cheltenham concern of E. Burrow. They describe the Council's services, the charms of the county, its boroughs and cities and the opportunities for both residential and industrial development. They are often a real 'snapshot' of the place at that time.
Many councils produced various by-products such as fertilizers as adjuncts to their gas, cleansing or sewage undertakings but Bradford was probably the only one who had an entirely separate Department to manufacture and market such produsts as listed here. As can be seen they made the proud boast that they were "the largest producers of wool grease in the world" - not a claim to be made lightly one suspects - and this was due to a simple, local situation. Bradford was one of the centres of the woollen trade and so their waste water contained a high concentration of lanolin and wool fats. This ended up at the City's vast Esholt sewage works where it was economically viable to seperate the products as part of the water treatment - thus saving the River Aire from even more pollution as well as making valuable by-products. Where there's muck, there's brass as they say.
With the collapse of the woollen textile trades the availability of such products and therefore their production at Esholt has ceased. The waste water works is still there, now run by Yorkshire Water.