“TREASURE IN A GARBAGE CAN” 1953 CITY OF LOS ANGELES GARBAGE COLLECTION & PROCESSING FILM XD81295

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This 1950s short film “Treasure in a Garbage Can” was written, directed, and photographed by Richards Hardman and Walter Perkins with the cooperation of the Refuse Collection Division Bureau of Sanitation Department of Public Works City of Los Angeles. This film looks at the process of trash collection and recycling in Los Angeles and seeks to communicate that a good waste disposal system can turn rubbish into treasure for the entire society. The Los Angeles By-Products Company, The Los Angeles County Toy Lending Center, and The Independent Paper Stock Company C.J. Lyons, INC also contributed to the production of this film. Music was composed by Clara Jean Lolmaugh. It was narrated by John Jacobs. The film opens with a scene of a man cleaning a cob of corn and then throwing away the excess (1:04). Clearing food off of dinner plates (1:10). Piles of glass bottles (1:17). Throwing rubbish into a tin trash can (1:26). Breaking glass bottle (1:28). Piles of unwanted furniture and trash (1:38). Chicken eating feed off the ground (1:50). Row of trash cans (1:53). White cat on top of trash cans (1:58). Dog trying to eat out of overturned trash can (2:01). Many trash cans filled up to the brim with trash (2:13). Garbage collectors going to work (2:20). African-American garbage collector directs garbage truck (2:27). White garbage collector drives the truck (2:33). Garbage truck leaving for the day (2:40). Father carries trash with son following him (3:02). Food scraps in one tin trash can and one box with bottles (3:07). Woman carrying trash can to the curb (3:17). Garbage truck moving down the street (3:28). Garbage collector prepares his truck to accept trash (3:39). Garbage collector riding on the edge of the garbage truck holding the tin trash can (3:54). Boy breaks a piggy bank (4:11). Garbage collector collecting garbage (4:31). Boy gives trash can to the garbage collector (4:50). Weighing the amount of garbage collected (5:14). Dispatcher records info (5:18). Map of Los Angeles (5:20). Garbage truck backs into the emptying area (5:36). African-American garbage collector attaches the trash container to the hanger (5:51). The container with trash is lifted (6:02). White garbage collector flipping switch (6:07). Trash being dumped into a trash pit (6:13). Garbage truck is washed down with water (6:24). Garbage being transferred to a different vehicle (7:09). Garbage truck emptying glass and metal (7:57). Man sorts through the rubbish (8:05). Sorter finds a baby doll (8:24). Magnetic roller attracts everything made of iron (8:38). Glass bottles are set aside (8:58). Trash sorters sorting the trash (9:20). Pile of saved toys (9:35). Metal cans being dumped into a sea of metal cans (10:05). Furnace (10:32). Cans move in a bucket elevator (10:46). Bluky metal (riff raff) is handled by a large claw (11:04). Metal going into shredder (11:19). Shredded metal (11:36). Piles of discarded metal (12:00). Mountain of discarded glass (12:05). Glass is washed (12:28). Workers sort through broken glass (cullet) (12:42). Pile of broken glass (13:04). Storage area for discarded items such as toys (13:14). Diverse force of female volunteers repair discarded toys (13:23). Leg gets attached to doll (13:45). Babydoll face painted (14:21). Doll’s hair is brushed (14:38). Doll styled and dressed (14:50). Shot of repaired dolls (15:00). Toy trucks (15:27). Boy plays with toy garbage truck (15:32). Pig (15:58). New glass from the disposed bottles (16:11). Copper plant benefits from recycled tin cans (16:13). Repaired doll (16:17).
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com

[@Nicks66Service]

Note the comparatively small size of the average home garbage can at the time.

[@georgemartin1436]

Thanks again, Periscope. Imagine... Spending eight man-hours fixing a cheap toy!

[@southernbreeze3278]

wasn't cheap back then. b4 the flood of stuff from china. not a disposable world yet

[@wmalden]

I had no idea that “recycling “ was going on this long ago. I have always thought that everything went to landfill or incinerators back then.

[@david24442]

So that’s where possessed toy dolls came from. I always wondered.

[@positivelynegative9149]

😔 Used toys deserve love too.

[@david24442]

Yes. To be serious.. I totally agree. These dolls were redeemed with the love of the many people that carried them back from the can, better than they were ever before.

[@MrDastardly]

The toy repair segment just amazed me. In some respects, happier times for some.

[@positivelynegative9149]

"This magnet picks up tin cans." 🤣 Okay.

[@James-kd7dc]

No it doesn't

[@johnp139]

Pulling corks from crushed glass without any gloves.

[@samburdge9948]

Love your work, would like to see more industrial, metal working, forestry, shop, mechanics, home economics, farming and mineral resources……history, god bless

[@Professor-Patti]

🗑I learned a lot from this 70-year-old film. I've never heard the word "cullet" until now. The more things change, the more they stay the same, we just call it recycling today. 😁 The toy recycling was interesting & I wonder if there are organizations that repair toys for needy children still exist today. The whole system was fantastic & it taught children life-long lessons. 🧸

[@romanf5061]

there are, but I don't know how wide-spread they are or know any of them by name... I gave some old stuff away on Craigslist and the woman who picked up said she was a volunteer for a local org that collects, fixes, distributes bikes, toys and art supplies (Sacramento, CA area)

[@albear972]

Those are tiny garbage cans. We live in L.A. and the ones we have now could easily hold 8x the capacity. And only one trash truck and operator. And sorting glass shards with bare hands? WTH man? The toy rental thing was friggin' weird.

[@zambufly1]

I chuckle everytime my trashman unknowingly empties severed body parts from my trash can...

[@georgemartin1436]

LOL

[@user-jg3qj2iw3y]

Was anyone else thinking of toy story 3 watching this?

[@romanf5061]

Lol, I totally thought of TS3. And I worked on TS2, so the doll restoration segment hit home. I always thought that was fictional

[@SB-hy9iq]

Pretty sure most of those workers had serious heathy issues working without masks or other PPE. Picking glass without gloves too. Important jobs but not safe by any means.

[@apollorobb]

Now LA IS the Garbage can

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Hahahaha you win!

[@georgemartin1436]

LOL!

[@thomasgoodwin2648]

Nothing kids love playing more than a rousing game of "Garbage Collectors and Litterbugs"... when nothing else like "Cops n Robbers" or "Doctor" were available. ... maybe huffing some shoe polish...

[@scratchdog2216]

Plenty of hand-sorting of refuse still goes on today. I scrap metal what I can but I work FT so some stuff just doesn't pay to collect and turn in. Yes we compost.

[@C02isgreat]

Can I put vitafilm on a film that has a lots of splices?

[@mastershake1187]

hehe richards hardman...

[@marktubeie07]

New from mattel, recycled barbie !

[@johnp139]

When I grow up I want to be a garbage man!

[@sunrunneroldbottels223]

this film is propaganda. you would think that L.A. hadn't any landfills. but they did and still do. i an in my 70s and i never herd of upcycled toys. kids would go to the dumps and find them.

[@new2000car]

The part with all the ladies fixing the dolls was definitely propaganda.

[@paulgaskins7713]

Honestly man, with that attitude, you’re probably part of the reason why LA is in the condition it’s in now. In my opinion if you’re 70 years old and willing to still go out of your way to comment on what is essentially nothing more than a channel presenting old films to the public and call it propaganda, even though you are right, tells me that you probably are part of why it’s in the condition it’s in and I get it man you were raised by the most traumatized generation in history that, in America, lied to you guys feeding y’all stuff like this while telling you the world is infinite and you’re generation are the ones to inherent it and change it for the better just to have that reality violently ripped from you in Vietnam. And if you were born black you were never part of that false reality and still sent to Vietnam just to be gentrified out of your childhood neighborhoods. I get it. I empathize. So, if you could forgive my hostility and extend me the favor of empathy in return, let me tell you that as a 27 year old American when I see these films; propaganda or not; I don’t feel-I know-that something fundamental was robbed from my generation. I’m sure we all feel that way in some sense or another. You know it’s funny y’all tend to see us as spoiled but to us you guys born in the late 40’s and 50’s are the spoiled ones. Sure I got a smart phone but it costed what was in your time 1/15th the price of a new home. Between you and I? I know which one I would rather have…

[@new2000car]

@@paulgaskins7713 You came to the wrong conclusion. While this film had propaganda, it was mild and benign. They wanted the viewers to think the sanitation department did more than it did. The sanitation department back then did a lot, just not as much as was depicted. And why would a 70 year old pointing out that there actually were dumps/landfills back then trigger you? That's just a fact from an eyewitness. Instead of being triggered, you should thank sunrunneroldbottels223 for his unbiased, factual account.. But liberal cities like LA and San Francisco (and New York, DC, Baltimore, Chicago, etc.) are today a hellhole. Crime, inflation, homeless, illegals. Liberals love to spread the blame to Republicans, but these cities have been liberal run for 50 years. They can clean them up (like when Newsom had the leader of China visit recently) but the rest of the time, it's a dirty, dangerous place. California was safe, clean and enjoyable when Ronald Reagan was governor. Prices at the grocery store and gas station, and used cars, were half the price just 3 short years ago when Trump was in office. I don't think 20 somethings are spoiled ones, but they're being lied to by our media.