All sorts of weird items are at recycling centre dumped

YOU get to see all sorts working at Cornwall’s busiest recycling centre a suspected grenade which led to the bomb squad being called, a dead cat and brand new 100 duvets are among the items which people have dumped.

James Maughan worked as a bingo caller, a high-end watch salesman and a Royal Navy helicopter engineer, which he says was all good training for working at the the Connon Bridge household waste and recycling centre. Once you've faced down a furious 95-year-old who’s fuming at you for failing to call her bingo numbers and worked with deadly helicopter blades, he said dealing with other people’s rubbish is easy.

“I’m relatively new to the job,’ said James, who works at the centre near Liskeard, which is run by SUEZ on behalf of Cornwall Council. When I started, back in 2019, the household recycling centre was just the tip’ to me same as it is to most people who don’t work in waste management. Now I know better. It’s a great feeling when you see one person’s unwanted stuff going off to be reused by someone else who really needs it.”