Rag and bone wisdom

It isn’t just the relentless responsibility we all have to try and reduce our energy and resource consumption that steers us towards investing in insulation and other energy saving measures, but the reasonable human desire for warmth and cosiness in our homes. 

Hunkering down here in Yorkshire for what we are told is proving to be the coldest winter for some years and having moved into a stone house with no cavity walls, we’ve made a priority of getting drywall insulation fitted to the inside of the coldest and most exposed rooms. For comfort as well as for carbon!

In my case, this has also involved the removal of a couple of very old, very heavy radiators in order to retrofit the insulation. The sensible thing to do was to replace them with modern, more efficient versions that disperse heat around a room more effectively, allowing the same level of warmth for lower fuel use.

And so it was that two large old radiators came to be languishing outside in the back yard, waiting for the inevitable trip to the civic amenity site.

But languish they didn’t. For no sooner had I rested them both against the outbuilding wall, then there was the sound of horses’ hooves on the road outside followed by a knock at the gate. 

So, who should I look up to see, offering to take the scrap metal away? None other than the local rag and bone man, and his trusty horse Bimbo, complete with cart, nicely laden with other scrap items.

Well, I was speechless. I haven’t seen a rag and bone man since I was a child, and I really thought that was a part of the recycling trade that had pretty much died out. It turns out there are still a few characters out there, plying this honourable trade and still offering a low-carbon, doorstep recycling collection service!

Inevitably, my nostalgia button switched on and it turns out I am not the only one. Just over a year ago, the polling organisation YouGov and the grocery chain Somerfield conducted surveys for their Local Life report on features of community life people would like to see return. Top of the poll with 55 per cent were district nurses, but nicely placed in fourth with 20 per cent were rag and bone men.

Only last month, South Norfolk Council trialled a scheme called Clear Your Clutter which appeared to have been an attempt to modernise the rag and bone man. A collection service was offered whereby crews would tour the streets seeking books, electrical items, plant pots, crockery and cardboard. Sadly though, the trial has ended and the council has said it is reviewing the plan as the costs are high.

It seems a shame, as maybe the time is right for a return to quality and humanity in our collection services. Not only did the rag and bone man collect your unwanted items, he often rewarded you with sweets for the kids, or a goldfish, or at the very least a chance to give the horse a pat and a carrot. Carrots, not sticks mind you.

So, it was all there: A good collection service, incentives to recycle, a bit of good advice and community spirit as well.  Sometimes, there might even be a little market knowledge. After all, those guys knew the market as well as anyone else.

My own brief conversation whilst loading the radiators elicited an observation about the ups and downs of scrap markets. But as the late Alf Masterson, celebrated rag and bone character for more than fifty years on the streets of London, said: “The scrap business is unusual because it goes up and up and up, then down and down and down.”

These prescient words may not have come straight from the horse’s mouth, but pretty darned close... Now where is that bag of carrots?