Recycling Top Tip: improve West Kirby tip

Last week we reported that Wirral is rubbish at recycling.

Less than a third of waste in Wirral is sent for recycling, leaving nearly 100,000 tonnes going to landfill or being incinerated each year.

This means that, on the recycling leaderboard, Wirral lies 285th out of 338 councils in England.

These numbers refer to the sort of waste that goes in our various bins collected by the trucks and teams from Biffa, the company contracted by Wirral council.

But of course we as individuals can play a small part in improving the numbers by recycling as much of our own rubbish as possible.

However - though at a time of national and global crises this may seem not to matter two hoots - life would be made easier if improvements were made to West Kirby Recycling Centre, better known to most of us as 'the tip'.

The people who work there are friendly and helpful, but the tip itself is not so great.

Queues form as JCB's pound discarded wood and scrap metal into submission, a process which - along with the taking away of said skips - means access to the the place has to be denied while the processes unfold. This can take many minutes.

That circular route around the tip means that, at busy times, users are immersed in the world's worst and slowest theme park ride on which it's difficult to keep any kids in the car interested by pointing and saying, "Look! It's a skip for wood!"

At least the workers normally have a radio on, so if it's not raining you can wind the window down and listen to the football commentary while keeping an eye open for a gap in front of Cardboard or Scrap Metal.

Naturally, while making the circle on a route wide enough for just one car, drivers are keen to park up next to the skip of their choice, leading to more queuing when the guy several vehicles in front waits for a space to become free right in front of Garden Waste.

Though some of the skips have flights of metal stairs you can ascend in order to dump your stuff, some do not. It's not that easy to shot-put a dead microwave into a very tall skip - which can lead to an overwhelming temptation to hide it at the bottom of the green or brown bin for the Biffa blokes to pick up.

By the way, what happened to the little brown bin for food waste that became a has-bin? What was all that about?

Anyway, West Kirby tip is not the most user-friendly place I have visited. If we are going to get better at recycling then tips need to be tip-top. As I say, it's not a burning issue - well, it is if your crap ends up in an incinerator - but for now let's just put it on Wirral's list of Things To Do.

Here's another top tip: remember that tips are full of useful stuff which can help in an emergency.

Back before the pandemic I took some old fencing panels to the Recycling Centre, and due to the threat of scratches and splinters I had bought a pair of thick work gloves like gauntlets that very morning.

Half way through what was a draining task, I found one panel hard to grip and, for reasons I don't understand, put it down, took off my gloves and placed them on the panel, and threw the whole lot into the skip.

It was too tall for me to climb, but luckily, hanging over the edge of the Scrap Metal skip was a set of aluminium step ladders. I lowered them down, found they were bent but still serviceable, put them up next to Wood, and climbed up and then lowered myself into the large, rusting receptacle, where, while standing on a deep and shifting sea of timber, I was able to retrieve the gloves (£12.99).

By the time I climbed out and got my feet back on the ladders a crowd had formed - well, five people - who applauded as I took the steps down and reached the ground.

They knew courage when they saw it.

Dad? Because petrol is so expensive don't you think we should keep that?