Ten-year-old recycling enthusiast visits TJ!

Ten-year-old Alfie Trude has been interested in recycling since he was a toddler, so when his dad Tony got in touch to enquire about a visit to one of our waste facilities, we found time in our busy schedule and were more than happy to oblige!

We arranged for Alfie and his dad to visit our Quartremaine Materials Recovery Facility on Friday 2 September, at the end of the school summer holidays. The visit was led by TJ’s Head of Compliance, Jack Macfarlane.  

Jack escorted Alfie and Tony around the Portsmouth-based site, ensuring their safety at all times. Everyone in the party had to wear full PPE including a hi-vis vest and hard hat in line with safety regulations, which Alfie loved!

Jack gave the pair a tour around the entire facility, explaining how the operation works, the processes, how waste is sorted, how recyclables are segregated for onward recycling and so on.

Alfie asked lots of questions about how it all works and even had the opportunity to sit in one of the 360 plant machines, which he thoroughly enjoyed!

Tony said: “Alfie has been into recycling ever since I can remember! He loves watching dustcart and tractor videos on YouTube and Trucker Tim. His mum says Alfie’s interest is genetic as I used to be a totter in London, collecting used building materials and reusable items and selling at Portobello and Brick Lane markets. 

“Alfie would love to work in the rubbish/recycling industry, it’s a very worthwhile job and quite an interesting place to be at present with its importance being recognised and the new technology that’s constantly being developed to sort and recycle items that would previously have been discarded.”

Alfie is very passionate about recycling and asked his dad to create a dedicated recycling area in their garden so he can sort the family’s waste before it goes into the bin, to ensure nothing recyclable ends up there. Dad Tony built Alfie a recycling shed (pictured) and sourced a number of different bins so that their waste can be sorted and organised accordingly in line with Alfie’s wishes.

After the visit, Tony emailed TJ to thank them: “Thanks for showing us around the site and especially for letting Alfie sit in the vehicle, the driver was great and so tolerant! We had a great time and it was good to see the final cleaning of the waste from skip loads too! Many thanks to you all.”

At the end of the visit, Alfie was given a TJ-branded hi-vis vest as a keepsake, as well as some branded stationery to use at school, both of which he was thrilled with.

Jack said: “It was fantastic to welcome Alfie to our Portsmouth waste transfer station. We work hard to ensure that we handle all waste in the most environmentally friendly way possible, and it was a pleasure to showcase how we do so to such a young environmental enthusiast. Hopefully Alfie will return to school and tell all his friends what he learned about recycling at TJ, which I hope will help promote the importance of recycling and protecting our environment to the younger generation.”

Find out more about TJ Waste and discover the range of services we offer.