Given that it was absolutely monsoonal rain outside, we were so happy to be in the big greenhouse to help with the sorting for Terracycle. The teracycle centre takes in all sorts of waste items from the local community visiting the garden centre or farm shop – and then works with all sorts of different organisations to recycle them into new things. So reducing landfill and increasing recycling.

Paula from the teracycle centre explained how it all worked and put us to work. The focus today was crisp packets and milk bottle tops. Her commitment to the project and innovative solutions to find a way for waste to have a whole new life was truly inspiring.

Super Speedy Sandy was our bottle top expert. She sorted all of the milk bottle tops into colours and filled two large boxes, so that they can be made into cool coloured surfboards! We learned that there is a purple cap (1% milk vs the 2% for blue tops). Who knew?

Lightening-speed Laura, Pacy Pam and Jet-propelled Jenny all worked on opening, cleaning and drying the crisp packets. These will then be stitched together with insulating material by a charity to make warm and dry sleeping bag covers for the homeless. Given the horrible weather outside, and thinking of the people who sleep rough in Upton Court and along the Jubilee River, we knew what an important task this is.

A brilliant task that we would recommend to everyone!