Recycling centre provides a lot more than a rubbish day out

So my daughter and I pitched up at Seafield community recycling centre to learn how we could do a little bit more ourselves at home. We received a warm welcome from the staff at the waste education portacabin. It was tipping it down, so I’m convinced they thought no-one would turn up. So coats off and sleeves rolled up, we started our session by finding out what makes up the contents of a typical wheelie bin. By sliding panels to reveal which percentage of each type of rubbish is thrown out, we identified what could be recycled or reused, reducing what ends up in landfill sites.

Next we learned about composting food waste. My six-year-old, Hope, is a huge worm fan, and so was Charles Darwin, who wrote: “ It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organised creatures.” I have to confess that I didn’t realise just how fascinating worms can be, and how critical they are when it comes to turning our unwanted food waste into useful compost. We learned that worms don’t sleep, are hermaphroditic and can reproduce every eight days or so. And there were top tips as well. The composting adviser suggested we add some layers of paper to our compost bin to make it less soggy.

We then peered into microscopes at some of the other micro bugs which can be found in the compost heap, before taking time out for a spot of jigsaw puzzling, making up images of the useful mini-beasts you can find in compost, such as woodlice and centipedes. Hope and I then played a recycling game, in which we had to separate rubbish and pop it in the correct bins.

We attended on a special themed day, so an artist from Alchemy arts (www.alchemyarts.org) was on hand for a bit of crafting, using recycled materials. Creativity satisfied, we donned our hard hats and hi-vis vests for a tour of the site. We started from the reuse cabin, which houses a treasure trove of unwanted but reusable goods and furniture, which is worth bearing in mind if you fancy a pre-Christmas clear-out. Next we peered into the various skips, learning what happens to each type of waste, and gazed up in awe at the mighty JCB crusher, a machine which compacts waste.

Hope was delighted to receive some recycled goodies. She managed to come away with quite a haul, including; a game of recycling Top Trumps, a ruler that was once a CD, plus a notebook made from a car tyre, but her favourite is a pencil that, unbelievably, was once a pair of jeans. Afterwards I asked Hope if she had enjoyed herself. “Oh, yes,” was the reply, “I thought we were just going to pick up litter and that really would have been a rubbish day out.” So possibly not a candidate for the school eco committee, just yet.

A visit to the waste education cabin is free and lasts for around 90 minutes. Open in October-March: Monday-Friday from 10am-4pm. For further information tel: 0131-469 5070, or visit www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20048/waste_education/460/waste_education_cabin