The tip

On Friday evening we had a trip to the tip which is on the coast at a place called Eliza Cove. You can't access the sea because there are lots of minefields there.


We had taken lots of sacks of stones, clay and general rubbish which I have been gradually digging out of the garden in my attempts to make a vegetable patch. The larger stones are being saved for John to build a wall round the garden and the rocks to build a rockery.

The tip is open at all times and not usually manned unless the JCB is being used. The only things which are recycled here are aluminium cans and glass bottles. (These have to be taken to the back of the town hall where there is a glass crusher but I haven't tried it yet). So nothing is segregated into different skips, you just drive up a large ramp and tip it over the end. As there is no barrier at the top reversing towards the edge can be a bit scary!


Periodically the rubbish is moved to a big smouldering heap and then into landfill. The area is frequented by lots of gulls, some feral cats and turkey vultures all scavenging. There were only 3 vultures on Friday but once when we went on a stormy day there was a large flock of them and the scene was quite apocalyptic with the dark sky, swirling smoke and vultures flying and perched all around.


One of the benefits of the tip system is that you can help yourself to anything you fancy from the heap - as long as no-one else is throwing stuff down on top of you. On Friday we collected a large and very solid wooden packing case. I have been on the lookout for some materials for John to build me a compost bin or two with so it will be very useful!