The 'tip' that aims to look after you like a 'five-star restaurant'

RECYCLING TEAM GO THE EXTRA MILE WITH THEIR EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE

- By ELLIOT JESSETT

YOU would be forgiven for assuming a Michelin star restaurant and a waste 'tip' have nothing in common, but you'd be wrong.

While the team at the local tip can’t take your coat or bring you a fine wine list, they will go the extra mile to help you out, be it unloading your old mattresses or saving your marriage - nourishing you with exceptional customer service. Let us explain.

We wanted to look behind the veil of Merseyside’s waste disposal operations and find out what we're all throwing away, where it goes and what it’s turned into.

To explore these issues, I signed up for a shift at Huyton’s Household Waste Recycling Centre and witnessed the extraordinary levels of dedication that goes into making it all work.

It's a beautiful late-summer morning when I start my shift, and will doubtless be one of the last warmer days before autumn draws in. The day starts off with a brief induction and a safety gear fit out, as we're given a hard hat, a high-vis, gloves and steel-capped boots.

The induction is held by Veolia Business Manager, Damian Bigley who walks us around the site and gives us all the relevant health and safety information for the site.

During the first 30 minutes, Damian details the sheer scale of the operation and shows us every corner of the yard, each area sectioned off to store the countless sources of waste material.

The array of different items is mind-boggling from batteries, disposable vapes, car tyres, fridges, tree branches, wardrobes, cardboard boxes, cans of paints and assorted heavy duty masonry materials - the list is endless really.

As you might expect, there's an enormous amount of organisation that goes into each day to ensure the smooth and correct management of thousands of items.