Reporter Amy Dyduch spent a morning at the waste and recycling depot in Twickenham and collected waste from houses in Twickenham to find out more about recycling in the borough.

Currently, 43 per cent of the borough’s household waste is being recycled and, through the council’s contract with Veolia, the borough sees a fleet of 35 vehicles and 100 staff collect rubbish from households.

Staff go through a four-hour safety induction before they are let on the streets to collect boxes from people’s home.

Contract manager Franco Murphy said: “This year we have had two sets of training on cycle safety. Whenever we hear some sad news or unfortunate incidents take place we give the guys a refresher to make sure that everybody is safe.”

Some staff are up at 4am to make the borough’s early collection times and for collectors to load about 800 boxes of rubbish per day, they have to be in good shape.

Operations manager Steve McKenna said: “It is quite a gruelling job because of the repetitive nature of it.

“There is a lot of bending and walking involved.

“You have to be pretty physically fit – you don’t see any fat collectors walking around.”

 

Townmead Road tightens up security

People and businesses who use Townmead Road Household Reuse and Recycling Centre in Kew are reminded that they need to bring identification to prove where they live.

The site is for people living in Richmond, Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow, but a recent survey found that more than 50 people from outside these areas were using the site.

Identification such as driving licence, Richmond card, utility bills or bank statements will be checked before using the site.