Once upon a time (I'm looking at you 1990's) we were told that all we needed to do to be green was to do our recycling. And although it might have taken a while to catch on, most of us now diligently sort our rubbish out into a gazillion different bins and boxes each week, and feel good that we're doing our bit.

However, sadly we're now realising that there's much more to saving the planet than simply popping our tin cans into the right bin, and that actually even the act of recycling is in itself bloody complicated (technical term for the UK's recycling infrastructure).

One of the reasons that our recycling varies so widely across the country, is that it's managed by local councils, and many of us may have visited our council website or Facebook page for information about what we can and can't recycling where we live. But whilst we might find the information we need, we very rarely find anything else to engage us on the topic, answer some of our trickier questions, and (whispers) entertain us.
Which is why Denis the Dustcart, from Exeter City Council, is such a revelation and I was so excited to interview him. Well, not actually Denis himself. He's a dustcart. Actually, he's not even a dustcart, he's an emoji dustcart persona. So I spoke to Merrick Palmer, recycling officer at Exeter City Council and Denis' alter-ego. Who happens to be very funny, and very good well-informed (by the recycling team at the council), and very good at writing engaging posts around all things waste and recycling on the Denis the Dustcart FB page.

Listen in as I throw all my recycling questions at Denis, with biggies like which is better (when it comes to the planet and recycling: palstic, glass, or tetrapak. These are genuinely the kind of things that keep me up at night...

Enjoy!

• Denis the Dustcart
  - Facebook
  - Instagram
  - Twitter
  - Great graphic from Denis about the different recycling signs -->
• [011] - How and why to recycle less (podcast)
• This week (7th-13th Sept) is Zero Waste Week - find out more about it on this podcast with Zero Waste Week founder Rachelle Strauss here.
• Sustainable(ish) Facebook group

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