Does anyone remember the old fashioned bin men?

[JOHN HABS 10]

When I was a lad way back in the early 60's and use to live in a back to back house, the bin men would have to go up the entry at the side of our house into the yard at the back to a designated bin storage place which was used by four family's.

 

They would carry the metal bins down the entry on their shoulders, empty them and then put them back from where they came from.

 

Nowadays we have to do most of the collection service ourselves, no metal bins for them to lug around, the bins are on wheels and once they are taken from your door, there's more rubbish on the paths and grass banks around your home than what goes into the bin wagon.

 

They don't bother to pick it up......just let it blow all over !

[stpetre 12]

The bin men (or Refuse collectors) weren't old fashioned but the system was.

[bazza63 12]

Eh?.......

 

What about 30s 40s when the Bin men had to empty the old Middins old outside toilets which they emptied then took the contents to the bin lorry.

[Chez2 10]

The bins used to be small but very heavy back then. Everyone I knew heated their houses with coal fires then upgraded to coal or coke boilers in the 1970s. Everyone used to put the ashes in their dustbin once they had cooled.

[Basalt 10]

When the paper sack hanging from the frame with a lid came in putting the fire ashes in them had a spectacular outcome. When they got heavy they fell off and the local animals shredded them to pieces. They became soft when it rained. We had ours bolted to the wall, some were on a pedestal thing. Do you remember spiking your finger fitting the sack?

[Dales 10]

Yes ,it would kill the guys nowadays if they actually had to work,,,takes them all their time to press a button on the wagon,,,and only then when we have done half the job for them by dragging the bins out

 

---------- Post added 23-01-2018 at 18:16 ----------

 

 

Why tip em ,nowadays,they don't even earn the wages they get, anyone can press a button

 

That is harsh. We have some old peoples bungalows near to where we live. The bin men take their bins to and from the bungalows and the older people appreciate this. If I am on days off from work, I take their bins out but I work shifts so I can't always do it. It's not really a pleasant job when its freezing cold and raining.

[Asaw 10]

We use to get this well built bloke knock on the door for a tip at christmas. It was the only time he acknowledged anybody

[Longcol 596]

I worked on the bins in Stocksbridge / Deepcar in the summer of 1974 when I was on holiday from University.

 

We carried the bins on our shoulders and emptied them into the back of the wagon - always looking out for any cast iron / copper wire etc that we could put in the back of the cab and weigh in for scrap.

 

Without doubt the heaviest were those full of ash from coal fires - a good hundredweight in one of them.

 

After a couple of months I think I was the fittest I've ever been - I put on a couple of stone - all muscle.

[beezerboy 12]

In the 50,s, they used to empty the contents of the bin into what was like a half size tin bath, that way they didn't have to do a return trip.

[sweetdexter 10]

Towards the latter end of WW11 when petrol was scarce some dust bin lorries were run by steam

I remember seeing one on Dutton Rd,what sticks in my memory is the huge chain underneath and the fire box

[Peter Tottle 10]

Speaking of the metal bin lids, we used to put them to several uses when I was a kid. Around Bonfire Day we would test our bangers underneath one in the back yard and see how far the lid would lift when one was set off. The usual height was about a foot, but there as a "Wilders Zip-Bang" which would actually blew the lid onto the top of the row of outside toilets which was some 7 feet high to the roof. Some power in a penny banger! We also used them as shields when fighting one another with toy swords.

 

Hi,I remember the Wilders Zip-Bang that blew up dustbin lids. We thought the "Wollop 365" was also a powerfull Banger also. Can you remember that one in the

40/50's ?.

[carosio 186]

Hi,I remember the Wilders Zip-Bang that blew up dustbin lids. We thought the "Wollop 365" was also a powerfull Banger also. Can you remember that one in the

40/50's ?.

Sorry can't remember that one, I was a child of the 50s. I remember the penny Atom in a whitish wrapper.