It only takes a day collecting and sorting recycling in Bristol to discover there is one mistake made by households that creates the 'grossest' part of the job. Nia Dalton, a writer at our sister site The Mirror, spent a dark, 'wet and miserable' morning as a recycle bin loader at Bristol Waste, although she was reassured by driver loader Simon Bohin that she was lucky it wasn't windy, or in the summer, when it's boiling hot.
Nia got a taste for what its like working as recycling bin collector, a job which employees had to carry on doing during the pandemic, cementing their role as key workers whilst most of the nation came to a standstill. At 6am, she headed out on the typical Thursday route with Simon and Dave McKenna, a loader who said the public 'really appreciated' their efforts in the pandemic.
Standing at 5'1, Nia found that she suffered a lot of 'splashback' when unloading the contents of the recycling bin into the waste compartments, with bin juice splashing on her face. Thankfully, torrential rain began to pour down, meaning the disgusting residue was washed off her face.
