Visits to our recycling centre in Andover had always been my father’s role in life, so I had to learn how it works.

I have become a regular now, there is a booking system on the internet, and they are open seven days a week.

I find all the staff to be very helpful and knowledgeable knowing ‘what to put where’. I asked a chap if he enjoyed his job, with a simple answer of yes!

I had been using our council’s method of collecting our green bins but my bins and bags were disappearing, so I now use the recycle system for those also.

This week I handed over electrical pieces, wires, plugs and adapters, of which some were used, and some were still useable.

They are handed to a staff member who sits working on them, which I have learned is to separate the plastic and metal.

Both of which can then be recycled.

We may then see, in our hospitals, some plastic reused as perhaps a defibrillator system. WEEE website also provides details of other shops that will accept electrical equipment, such as a laptop to be recycled.

Our batteries can produce 20,000 tonnes of waste in the UK, yet only 27 per cent are recycled. It takes 50 times more energy to make a battery than what it produces.

My childhood memories bring delight when watching a ‘digger’ picking up the full waste skips.

In the recycle centre, staff always close the gate, and stand in front to prevent dumping whilst these skips are being taken away.

Where do they go? Households produce 26 m tonnes of waste each year in the UK, which is compared to 260 large cruise ships!

Out of this, 12m tonnes are recycled and 14m tonnes are sent to landfill sites.

Which then states we average at approximately 45 per cent recycled. Yet Germany, Austria and South Korea recycle 60 – 70 per cent.

The lowest levels of recycling are quoted as being in Turkey and Chile. The larger countries, like America, generate the highest amount of waste.

In our own centre, I find the other visitors to be often friendly and we may share our knowledge and ideas.

I gained a plant pot from a lady which now sits in my garden.

The centre has its own shop, where you can buy pieces. It can be quite absorbing to glimpse mirrors, small tables, golf clubs, and more plant pots. I have heard other waste shops donate to charity too.

If not destroyed or recycled, the waste of 14m tonnes then goes to landfill.

Landfills can produce the gases methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen which could cause fire. The landfills can last 30 to 50 years.

Smog and climate change are also discussed a lot more now but there are simple ways we can all help. 

These include making donations to charity of clothes, reducing your own waste and buying less packaging.

One aluminium can, recycled, saves enough energy to power a TV for up to three hours. And food, well in the UK households we create 9.5m tonnes of waste each year, creating a kilo per person on the planet!