Junk man
Encyclopedia
Junk man is the term for a person that buys, trades, or collects disparate items (scrap
and usable/repairable things) that are considered of little or no value to their owners. This person then tries to sell or trade these items at a profit to other individuals and scrap yards.
Scrap
Scrap is a term used to describe recyclable and other materials left over from every manner of product consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has significant monetary value...
and usable/repairable things) that are considered of little or no value to their owners. This person then tries to sell or trade these items at a profit to other individuals and scrap yards.
Appearances in pop culture
The poet Carl Sandburg has a poem called "Junk Man," in which Death is personified by a junk man.See also
- Karung guniKarung guniThe practice of Karung guni is common in Singapore. Its practitioners are a modern form of rag and bone men that visit residences door-to-door. They make visits in carts, collecting old newspapers and other unwanted items. These will be resold at specialized markets and eventually recycled or reused...
- Rag and bone manRag and bone manRag and bone man is a British phrase for a junk dealer. Historically the phrase referred to an individual who would travel the streets of a city with a horsedrawn cart, and would collect old rags for making fabric and paper, bones for making glue, scrap iron for recycling, and assorted miscellany...
, the British equivalent of this vocation - Sanford and SonSanford and SonSanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977....
, a television program centered around a junk man and his son - Dumpster divingDumpster divingDumpster diving is the practice of sifting through commercial or residential trash to find items that have been discarded by their owners, but that may be useful to the dumpster diver.-Etymology and alternate names:...
- Waste pickerWaste pickerA waste picker, recycler, rag picker, salvager, binner, informal resource recoverer, poacher, or a scavenger, is a person who salvages recyclable elements from mixed waste...