Dave Anderson, from Wibsey in West Yorkshire, has earned the title of ‘Railway’s Mr Recycling‘ after sifting through 1,600 bin bags of rubbish looking for recyclable materials such as paper, cans, plastics and glass.

Dave has been working at Bradford Interchange station for over a year now, for ISS, which is a facilities management company working on behalf of rail operator, Northern.

Bradford Interchange marks one of the rail operator’s busiest stations, seeing approximately 2.7 million passengers each year.

The remarkable efforts made by Dave have led the station to a substantial reduction in general waste, leaving the station after bags of rubbish have been through Dave’s ‘filtration hub’, which has moved from the back of a van into a dedicated container workshop.

Train cleaners work hard clearing up 118 services at the station each day and on completing a train, provide Dave with 2 bin liners of rubbish for Dave to filter. The filtration process sees Dave separate paper, cans, plastic, glass, coffee cups and non-recyclables before being taken for processing by Biffa, Northern’s waste management partner.

October 2022 saw the filtration process trialled and led to the station’s recycling levels to increase from 4% to an impressive 41%.

This week, from the 16th to the 22nd of October, marks nationwide Recycle Week, which is in its 20th years and aims to encourage members of the public to recycle more often. No doubt, Dave’s inspiring efforts will go on to inspire others to keep on recycling!

Dave said:

“I’m very passionate about recycling and when I heard about this job and the fact it was a trial to see what impact it could have – I knew I wanted to be a part of it. One year on and I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve achieved.”

“In relation to the 500 disposable coffee cups he collects each day, Dave has made a particular appeal to customers: “We can only recycle dry waste so if you haven’t finished your drink, please don’t pour ‘the dregs’ into the bin as that contaminates everything else in that bag. Take it with you and pour the contents away before recycling it.”

Mike Roe, Safety and Environment director at Northern, said:

“The trial at Bradford Interchange has been a great success and is one of a number of ways our station teams help divert as much waste as possible away from incineration or landfill as well as increasing our sustainability.”

“Dave has been integral to that success and has rightly earned the nickname ‘Railway’s Mr Recycling’ for his efforts.”