Behind-the-scenes at Bury St Edmunds Recycling Centre in Fornham Road
From hunting for lost keys and wedding rings to keeping people safe – we take a look at a day in the life of Suffolk's busy recycling centre workers.
Along the way, we met a mother and son duo at the recycling centre in Fornham Road, Bury St Edmunds and also visited the nearby Re-use shop.
Katie Ward became a recycling operative back in 2007, after her father who worked as a team leader at the old centre on Rougham Hill, asked her to help out for a couple of days.
Even though it was meant to be a temporary arrangement, Katie enjoyed working at the recycling centre so much she stuck around – moving with the team to its current site which opened in 2020.
Highlights of the job for Katie include getting to meet lots of dogs that often come along for the ride with their owners.
Alongside meeting new four-legged-friends Katie said she enjoyed chatting to elderly people ‘as often they are the ones that don’t ask for help’.
Years ago, roles at recycling centres were mainly taken up by men, however now there are plenty of women working across Suffolk County Council’s 11 recycling centres.
Women on the team and other employees, are increasingly enjoying the customer facing side of the job.
A key part of Katie’s role is keeping people safe, which includes ensuring children stay in cars.
She admits this can sometimes cause a few tears as they want to take a closer look at what is going on.
One thing is for sure, her team is always busy. Katie said: “It doesn’t matter if there is snow, sleet or rain, lots of people still want to visit.”
Following in the footsteps of her father David Pepper, who has now retired, Katie is now team leader at the new recycling centre and her son Kearon is in charge when she has time off.
But that is not where the family connections end – Katie’s brother Nathan Pepper is a team leader at another of Suffolk County Council’s recycling centres in Mildenhall.
And her husband, John Ward, who used to work at Bury St Edmunds recycling centre, can often be spotted driving by in his current role as a large goods vehicle driver for FCC environment.
Giving an insight into an average day at work Kearon, like his mum, is focused on helping the public.
As well as keeping the site clean, he assists people with heavy items.
Kearon also keeps an eye on both staff and members of the public, to make sure everyone is adhering to the strict site rules.
He said: “No matter what the weather conditions are like we are always out there maintaining health and safety and making sure people are doing everything right.”
For Katie and Kearon, days working at the recycling centre often involve the challenge of hunting out spectacles, car keys and wedding rings.
But some days can be more eventful than others. Recently one man had to search through the textile skip after finding out his wife had accidentally thrown away all of his favourite suits.
Occasionally there is a sadder story to tell, like when wives dump their husband’s clothes intentionally.
Paul Smith, contract manager for FCC Environment, which runs recycling centres across Suffolk, said there had been plenty of surprising stories over the years.
Members of the public had tried to discard shotguns, ammunition and other military memorabilia from World War Two.
In 2020 Suffolk Police had to make a visit to the recycling centre in Sudbury after someone dropped off some bones – luckily they were found to be from a medical skeleton.
Paul, who has worked in the waste industry for the last 19 years, said: “What gets me out of bed in the morning is that every day is different.”
When recycling centres across Suffolk reopened after the pandemic, there was a big spike in people using recycling centres – an appointment system was also put in place.
Now, Paul said, the cost-of-living crisis was having an impact on how the public used recycling centres.
He said people were holding on to items for longer, in an attempt to save money.
Moving on to talk about the recycling bins we all have at home, Paul said: “The majority of people living Suffolk want to do the right thing.”
However he admitted some people did not know what they could recycle – each week 3,000 nappies were taken out of household recycling in Suffolk.
More information about what you can recycle can be found online at suffolkrecycling.org.uk – where you can also book a slot at your local centre.
Meeting the team at the Re-use shop
Since Christmas, the Re-use shop, next to Bury St Edmunds Recycling Centre, has sold more than 8,000 items and is getting ‘more popular all the time’.
The Re-use shop, and its sister store at Foxhall Recycling Centre in Ipswich, are run by the Benjamin Foundation, a charity who work with young people and families in need of support.
Families can donate at all of Suffolk’s recycling centres, by leaving items in the orange re-use containers.
Items including bikes, books and small pieces of furniture can also be dropped off at the two Re-use shops.
Lisa Cornish, has been the store manager at the Bury St Edmunds store since May 2022.
She said: “I love my job, it is really interesting and you get to meet lots of lovely people – and it is rewarding to save items from being thrown away.
“We are on first name terms with some of our customers – some come in daily or even twice a day.”
From April to September the Re-use shops in Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich are open between 9am - 5pm from Monday to Saturday and between 10am-4pm on Sundays.
