Today we went to the tip

Today we went to the tip; when I say tip, I mean the recycling centre because we had a load of things which we needed to get rid of. Sadly they were all in good condition and perfectly useable but – mainly duvets and pillows, but no-one wants them, not charity shops, charities, or anyone else. I have tried to recycle them to others, but no, no-one wants second-hand duvets, which is understandable, especially in these times. Anyway…

Today we went to the tip; it’s round the back of a small trading estate and you enter via a narrow road with trees and grass on either side and smart blue railings fencing off the administrative buildings. There are double gates and the entrance wide enough for small trucks and vans but not wide enough for lorries and very big vehicles. You enter past a small office  and on the right are big skips for things such as bottles, newspaper etc, and for recycled household and white goods such as fridges, freezers and washing machines. On the left are large fenced off areas with huge containers for every sort of rubbish, each one with a large sign above identifying what it’s for – wood, metal, furniture, garden refuse, small electrical items, unrecyclable etc. There’s single file parking on either side, with workers there to direct the cars, only letting drivers in when there is a space to park so it’s all very orderly and well-organised. At busy times a queue of cars can stretch down the narrow road leading to the gates.

The workers wear orange protective clothing so they are easily identifiable, and there are plenty ready to help, to help carry unwieldy items, to advise where unusual things should go, sweep up or tidy up any spills, wave cars through to available parking spaces, keeping everything moving as quickly an as efficiently as possible. We parked up, sadly took our stuff and hurled it into its cage of no return, deposited our recyclable small electrical items, and within less than ten minutes exited the site. I’m always so impressed by  how hard the people there work,, always cheerful and helpful, and yet it must often be smelly and unpleasant work, and definitely non-stop!

My featured image isn’t actually of the tip, it’s just a massive heap of broken bricks, stones, crushed concrete, which was waiting to be taken away from a building site a while ago.