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Well yes they were. They would collect peoples rubbish for nothing or just a few pence, then sell on the furniture, sell the metal to scrap merchants, sell used household articles. In those days few people had cars so could not dispose of their old stuff easily.. There were no charity shops.
Soft drinks and beer came in glass bottles and if you took them back to the offy you could get a penny or two for each one. Many children earned their pocket money returning empties.
Also the dustmen used to do their bit. Unlike today you could leave allsorts beside the dustbin and the dustmen would take it all away, sort it and sell on what they could, before putting the rest to landfill.
I often wondered about that, the house was just full of junk. Funnily enough we have a rag and bone man come around the streets once a week and he blows the horn Unfortunately my husband used to work nights so this didn't go down too well, he always moved faster past my house, as one day when he'd woke the other half up he threatened to shove it in a dark and damp place.
With a trepidation of being old of which i am not so old,during the school holidays we would knock doors and take away any rags.These we broke down into woollens and other.We took them to a yard where they were weighed and we got 4 pence a pound for woollies and 2 pence a pound [weight] for other,old money.Where they went i dont know,but my Grandfather worked in one such yard At this one we would get 4 pence a pound for rose hips Collecting was arduous.The return bottle system was common as the tops to me were quite fascinating which were the swivel screw type,names like Bellamys and Corona come to mind.Even the brooke bond tea had the penny stamps Marbles was a common game then and often went down the drains It was not unusual for me to go on the tip digging for them and sold them for 6 pence for 25 Rag and bone stay lucky
Rag and bone men were the original recyclers. They would take anything from you, metals, furniture, rags, not so sure about the bones, and in return give donkey stones, and sometimes balloons to the children. Donkey stones were coloured, soft stones, a bit like chalk, that the lady of the house would use to colour the front doorstep with after mopping it.
The material they collected would be sold to the appropriate outlet, ie scrap yard, secondhand shop, or rag merchant (paper and specifically banknotes were made from rags)
Obviously Steptoes house was filled with artefacts that were in storage until there was a demand in the market.
Very funny programme, loved it.
Where I lived the rag and bone man would give us marbles, goldfish or donkey stones for our old rags.
When I was very young,back in he 1960s,it was a common sight to see rag and bone men around the streets of Edmonton where I used to live.They would come around on a horse and cart much like the famous Steptoe & Son used to do.I recall many of them ringing their hand-held bell yelling 'Old iron & lumber', 'Old iron & lumber' as they trotted around the streets. I don't believe they were the original eco-warriors.I believe things collected were recycled and re-used and re-sold on especially old tellys, washing and spinning machines, fridges and furniture.
It may be of use to note that the dustmen during the 1960s had a collection trailer on the back of their dustcart for collecting newspapers in. Also, many old glass bottles could be returned to shops for a refund of sixpence (2.5p) and,of course,all milk bottles put out as 'empties' were collected by the milkman. In allo cases,there has been a sad demise in this kind of early recycling from my youth!
Hope this helps. ALan L.
it was seen as a good hunting ground for collectors, or others that wanted something nice, but not that expensive, you used to get a lovely firplace in an ironmongers, now it is a blue flame behind a glass screen, mmmmm homely!
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