A battery-powered dustcart belonging to the Corporation Cleansing Department, 1955.
The department dealt with 450,782 tons of refuse in 1955, the year in which horse-drawn vehicles were withdrawn from service. The department was equipped with 273 "mechanically propelled vehicles" including this battery-powered dustcart. The dustman shown here, emptying a basket of rubbish into his cart, was one of 2,501 men and women working for the department.
In 1955 Partick Camera Club set out to create a photographic survey of Glasgow. As the project progressed, other camera clubs joined and each was allocated a district of the city to photograph. Glasgow Museums exhibited the photographs at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and at the People's Place, and in 1956 the exhibition was shown at the Palace of Art in Bellahouston Park. The photographs are now part of Glasgow Museums' collections.
Reference: 1005.97.192 / OG.1955.121.[162]
Reproduced with the permission of the Partick Camera Club
Keywords:
battery-powered vehicles, binmen, dustcarts, dustmen, Glasgow Corporation Cleansing Department, Glasgow Photographic Survey 1955, refuse disposal, rubbish, sanitation, Tudor Accumulators