When I was a kid I wanted to be a dustman, I thought they only worked on a Thursday morning

I'm a binman here in northern Ireland not a shame of it and proud to be a binman

Just about the time of this programme, at 16, I got a holiday job on the bins in Winchester. I was a naive posh boy but the blokes were great to me (as long as you pulled your weight!) and it was the beginning of my realisation that education, qualifications and position are not indicators of intelligence or human value - rather the opposite in my opinion, judging by the quality (lack of) of those who run the world!. I really enjoyed that summer and going back to school seemed such a waste of time that I was gone within weeks, to follow my own erratic path in life.

I no longer own a TV, but I wish there were factual programmes like this made today.

And the van was a British Leyland J4 if anybody's interested

Fascinating. I love these old programs to get a glimpse into the UK during the past. Honestly things aren’t that different from Philadelphia where I grew up. Seems like things were so much simpler back then when I was growing up in the 70’s and 80’s

and the binmen rode on the back of the lorry.they even expected a tip at xmas..i loved my childhood in the 60,s /70,s

You don’t see tea chests these day. Great for packing when moving house.

The most obvious thing here is that we produced much less waste.
Today it’s down to packaging being the reason there is so much waste.

Cars seen as junk then might be highly collectible now!

So simple back then
Now we have a HUGE bin lorry , loads of flashing lights , beeping noises , high visibility jackets , health and safety training , garden full of different coloured wheelie bins

We had a bin for ashes from our coal fire, when full it was bloody heavy, the binman would come down the passage, round the back of the house, and hump it up on his back no bother, briing it back empty and shut the gate on his way out. Proper tough job back then.

When I was a kid in the 1970s there lived a rough family on the main road.
I went to school with one of the sons.
The old man was a bin man doing our estate.
When his lorry turned onto the main road he would trot into his house and eat a cooked breakfast his missus had done for him.
She was a big old bruiser and took over his job of emptying the bins until he'd had his meal then they'd swap again with the lorry at the opposite end of the road.
It was just accepted.
I think back with incredulity to some of the things that went on.

I miss the sound of those old metal bins in the early morning. So evocative of our old world.

Good to see documentaries like this are being recycled.

Even those old tea chests be worth money these days

brilliant video,absolutely gobsmacked that even as far back as 1972 when I was 11,they were able to recycle so much of the scrap in what appears a very efficient and clean way-brilliant stuff who dug this video up

I love these 1970s documentaries can we see more memories of the past

For 1972 this was pretty advanced and modern ! - here in 2022 some 50 years later I am sure they still do the same thing with all the unwanted rubbish but on a larger scale !

Probably lots of dumped porn magazines would have been “recycled” before ending up in the furnace.