The Secret Life of Rubbish
With tales from old binmen and film archive that has never been broadcast before, this two-part series offers an original view of the history of modern Britain - from the back end where the rubbish comes out.
Episodes
When Ernie Sharp started on the bins in 1947, household rubbish was mostly ash raked out of the fire-grate. But as Britain transitioned from 'make do and mend' to a consumer society in the 1960s, discarded packaging turned the waste stream into a flood.
In the 1970s and 1980s, privatisation came for the public refuse collection services. Environmentalism led to the world's first bottle bank, but the waste stream continued to expand.
