As you may or not know one of my jobs is working in a Waste Transfer Centre.
In a nutshell the Skips we have are emptied onto the floor and the various products go into larger skips that once full go to recycling plants. Wood to wood yards, Metal, Copper, Brass & Lead to scrap yards, Soil, Bricks, Mud and Clay to quarries and so on and so on with glass, cardboard etc etc with very little if any going to landfill sites.
From time to time a skip will come in that has the contents of a life. Usually a person has died and the family decide to throw it all into a skip. The skip will be tipped up in a separate area and I have the duty to carefully go through it and decide what is best for the contents.
Usually most of it will go to a re-claim area or an auction. When you see a person's possessions on the floor in front of you I've been known to get a little bit emotional as you soon in a way get to know the person who's possessions your going through.
It never ceases to amaze me just how a family can do such a thing but I guess in this throw away society even a person's possessions aren't as sentimental as I would like to think?
While going through the possessions if I find photographs or possessions I think shouldn't be on the floor it is my duty to ring the customer up and usually that person will ask to have those possessions returned to them.
When a loved one dies just remember if you throw it into a skip don't just assume it's going to be buried into the ground but someone like me has to perform a duty.
