Local democracy reporter Elliot Jessett joined the team at Huyton’s Household Waste Recycling Centre to find out what we’re all throwing away, where it goes and what it’s turned into
ECHO reporter at Huyton Household Waste Recycling Centre(Image: Liverpool Echo)
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 to 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 bespoke steel-capped boots.
ECHO reporter at Huyton Household Waste Recycling Centre(Image: Liverpool Echo)
The induction is held by Veolia Business Manager, Damian Bigley who walks us around the site and gives us all the relevant health & safety information for the site. During the first 30 minutes, Damien 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.
Residents in the Liverpool City Region can use any one of the 16 Household Waste Recycling Centres across the region, all run by Veolia who were awarded a 20-year contract in 2009. It’s estimated that the Huyton site sees approximately 185,000 visitors every year.
In terms of the amount of waste managed by Huyton’s plant, during the period April 2024 to March 2025, it collected more than 15,581 tonnes of material.
ECHO reporter at Huyton Household Waste Recycling Centre(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Once recycling material has been sorted and separated at Merseyside’s Materials Recovery Facilities it is sent to one-of-six reprocessing sites around the country. Those sites then use the materials to produce new items, including home insulation products and tomorrow’s newspapers.
Of course, dealing with other people’s rubbish means you never quite know what’s going to turn up.
“We once had a replica machine gun dumped here,” Damian says: “You can imagine the reaction. Police were called, the site was evacuated and everyone held their breath, but thankfully it turned out to be a fake. It still gave us all a fright, though.”
But not all discoveries are unwelcome. We are introduced to HHWRC team leader, Dean Chadwick who we will be shadowing for the rest of our shift. Dean has been in the waste and recycling industry for nine years and said the experience has changed his outlook on the world: “I’m much more aware of what I throw away and I’m forever telling friends and family how things should be disposed of.
“Being here everyday, you are all too aware of how much we consume and what we discard. We live in a much more disposable culture to when I was growing up, but we’re here to make sure what gets thrown away can be re-used for something else in the future.”
ECHO reporter in a JCB at Huyton Household Waste Recycling Centre(Image: Liverpool Echo)
As we’re walking around the site, Dean points to a spot across the yard where one of the team’s most heart-warming stories unfolded, he said: “A man came in to see us in an absolute panic.
“He’d brought a few things down here earlier in the day and realised his wedding ring had slipped off his finger. You could see the colour drain from his face.“
The team rallied around and brought operations to a halt, traced the load back to the right pile, and – with the patience of archaeologists – began sifting through rubbish handful by handful.
“And would you believe it,” Dean says, his eyes lighting up, “we found it. There it was, glinting away in this huge mound.
“It was just a nice moment because the man hadn’t had it off his finger for 56 years and then all of a sudden it was gone. We were all relieved when we found it, him more than anyone!”
The story has become part of site legend and a great example of the plant’s unusual commitment to customer service. Dean is quick to explain that this philosophy isn’t accidental: “I tell my team we’re not just here to deal with waste, we’re here to deal with people.
“We have regulars who come here and we know all their names, there’s elderly people who like to visit just to say hello and complete a little errand and it’s always good to see them. It’s the best part of the job.
“If you go to a five-star or Michelin star restaurant, you expect someone to greet you, guide you, make you feel looked after. Why shouldn’t it be the same here? So that’s what we aim for.”
ECHO reporter (right) and Dean Chadwick, Veolia Team Leader, at Huyton Household Waste Recycling Centre(Image: Liverpool Echo)
It’s an unconventional comparison – food versus rubbish – but the principle holds. At the entrance, the greeter ensures visitors know exactly where to go. Inside, staff are trained to answer questions patiently, even if it’s the tenth time they’ve been asked how to dispose of an old paint pot.
“Most people don’t wake up thinking, ‘I can’t wait to visit the recycling centre today,’” Dean admits. “So if we can make it smoother, kinder, maybe even pleasant, then we’ve done our job twice over.”
Walking through the facility, what strikes you isn’t just the machinery or the large containers filled with discarded plastic and metal, but the people going the extra mile every day to make the world a little bit better.
Recycling may be about materials, but the staff see it as a human service. Each visitor is a neighbour, someone with a story, someone who might be arriving in frustration after a household clear-out or in relief after finally tackling the garden shed.
And occasionally, there’s someone who’s lost something precious like a wedding ring.
As our shift draws to a close, the cars are still queuing up and working their way through the site. It’s been an eye-opening experience which has shown rubbish can so much more than just waste. It becomes a reminder that even in the messiest corners of life, service, kindness, and a dash of humour can shine through, and things once discarded can be made new again.