As a rag-and-bone man, Alf Masterson, who has been doing the rounds in Camden Town for 30 years, is the father of all recycling. He rings a bell as he goes from street to street, his fox terrier Pip balancing precariously on the cart. Pip once picked up three £50 notes in the West End and brought them to Alf in his mouth. "The streets of London are paved with gold," says his master.
Alf left school at 13, by which time he had already started "totting" (the word now used for his trade) with a friend's father. Originally, the rags were used for making paper and the bones (from Sunday lunches) collected for glue and bone china. Skips, charity shops and recycling bins have all made life harder for Alf, but he has a knack for recognising all sorts of different types of metal, and counts this ability, as well as good sight, hearing and a way with people, as a requirement for the job. He reckons that he walks 15 to 20 miles a day, six days a week, and on a good day makes £40 to £50. Alf and his wife Phyllis live in a neat three-storey house which is entirely kitted out with items he has totted over the years, from the beds to the kitchen cupboards and the television set. There are some things he's picked up that he has preferred not to keep, however-including a human skull, a coffin and a stuffed turtle.