I have a confession to make. Ever since we've had motorways in Britain I've always had a guilty love affair with their concrete sparseness forging through the countryside, and especially the cuttings between high banks of nature-reclaimed earth populated with gorse bushes, tall foxgloves and other wild flowers.
It's a guilty confession because I hate seeing the rape of the countryside for pollution pumping vehicles, and I rail against the extinction of Sites of Special Scientific Interest and the annihilation of ancient woodlands just to clog up Britain with more roads that don't actually solve traffic problems. But there is something special about a quiet motorway with high slim bridges spanning the road between clumps of trees so that they appear to hang in the sky without support, like a Japanese painting.
This - a recycling centre set in the countryside - has that same unearthly atmosphere, which is why I find it completely magical.
Built in tiers, the split-level design has a traffic loop system with stopping places for specific items to be recycled; at the lowest point there are huge metal containers in concrete bays. Yet even at this lowest point the ground drops sharply away towards the tops of trees, giving the feeling of being on the edge of the world.
The trees look as if they've been there for a long time, but interestingly were planted shortly after the site was built in 2013. It was landscaped and planted with approximately 5,000 trees & shrubs in order to mitigate any adverse visual impact within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Named as one of the top four recycling facilities in the country, the site was a runner-up in the Civic Amenity Site of the Year category in 2014. The criteria to be considered for the Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management Award include increased levels of recycling, enhanced service, overall design, solar heated water and the use of rain water for the toilet facilities.
The concrete bays on the lowest tier hold these large containers where metal dinosaurs come up to feed! ;)
During
my research I found an article in the Daily Mail, dated 24th July 2015,
which told the story of how film buffs Mike Grant, and his daughter
Rachael, found an incredible haul
of near-extinct silent film reels at the recycling centre. Containing
feature films from the Golden Age of cinema dating from 1909, Mike said
that he will be donating them to the British Film Institute.
Below, I just managed to capture one of my friends, Marion, striking a pose when she saw I was taking photos. That'll teach her, lol. ;)
And finally, the exit sign thanking us for recycling. Underneath that is the legend 'Don't let Devon go to waste'. Ha! :)
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