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The Destructor
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DescriptionThe Wellington City Council refuse destructor was located in the Corporation Yard on Clyde Quay (now the site of Central City New World). In its hey-day it burnt up to 20,000 tonnes of refuse a year.
The first destructor was officially opened for use by the then Mayor, Samuel Brown, in 1888. Refuse was collected in horse drawn conveyances, which were taken up a ramp, tipped on a storage floor, then fed through a door into a furnace below.
Construction of the second destructor related to Wellington’s rapidly extending sewerage scheme, which required power for its ‘Ejectors’. The new destructor was designed to supply heat to generate steam for the sewerage system’s air compressor plants.
In 1907 the tender was let to Messrs Heenan & Froude to build the destructor and auxiliary equipment. The work was finished in May 1908 at a cost of around £20,000.
The destructor operated for 30 years. By the late 1930s, the sewerage system had been extended to a size that meant the destructor could not generate enough steam to run its compressors. The composition of house refuse had also changed. Increasing use of electricity meant rubbish had less coal ash in it, thus coal had to be added to ensure a regular steam pressure.
Increasing operating costs, the electrification of the sewerage scheme plant and the introduction of the Bradford Scheme for burying rubbish saw operation of the destructor reduced drastically from 1939, and cease from 1946.
The first destructor was officially opened for use by the then Mayor, Samuel Brown, in 1888. Refuse was collected in horse drawn conveyances, which were taken up a ramp, tipped on a storage floor, then fed through a door into a furnace below.
Construction of the second destructor related to Wellington’s rapidly extending sewerage scheme, which required power for its ‘Ejectors’. The new destructor was designed to supply heat to generate steam for the sewerage system’s air compressor plants.
In 1907 the tender was let to Messrs Heenan & Froude to build the destructor and auxiliary equipment. The work was finished in May 1908 at a cost of around £20,000.
The destructor operated for 30 years. By the late 1930s, the sewerage system had been extended to a size that meant the destructor could not generate enough steam to run its compressors. The composition of house refuse had also changed. Increasing use of electricity meant rubbish had less coal ash in it, thus coal had to be added to ensure a regular steam pressure.
Increasing operating costs, the electrification of the sewerage scheme plant and the introduction of the Bradford Scheme for burying rubbish saw operation of the destructor reduced drastically from 1939, and cease from 1946.
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The Destructor. Archives Online, accessed 02/06/2023, https://archivesonline.wcc.govt.nz/nodes/view/516069