So, Dad, how long has Stan been working for you?

He’s been coming in to work with me since he was 18 months old and he loves it.

What are his roles and responsibilities?

He works the controls and the chains, and the satnav.

We need a Stan at our work! He seems to enjoy grafting…

Yes, when Stan started school, he was gutted as skip work was only doable for him at weekends and school holidays.

And what do your customers make of this pint sized skip hunk?

All the customers love Stan, but he gets annoyed when they try and help him with the skip net and chains.

Quite right! He takes his career very seriously. We like a lad with ambition. When he’s not climbing up the professional ladder, how does he unwind?

He plays football in League One for BurghfieldUnder Nines on the left wing, and last week scored with a great header.

So, over to Stan – do you ever have your friends from school joining you on your rounds?

No, none of my friends ever come to work, it’s mine and dad’s thing. When I’m older I’m going to drive a skip lorry.

So if you had to give up skip work or football what would it be?

I love being out in the lorry and tidying the yard but it can’t beat football

And what is Santa getting you this Christmas?

For Christmas,I have a laptop on my list.

Well, I hope you get it Stanley, and have a great time off work, football and school with your family! Happy Christmas!

Hey ladies! Nice Santa dresses! Tell the readers what you do at Skip Hire Magazine.

Debbie: I’m media sales manager. I get people to advertise in the mag, and make sure they’re looked after and happy.

Sophie: I work in the Subscriptions department, I contact people to renew their subscriptions, and get people to start reading the magazine. It’s great fun, cos everyone loves it!

When you’re not working hard at Skip Hire Magazine Heights, what do you like to do?

Debbie: I love going to the gym, eating out and raving with my mates.

Sophie: I like going out, shopping and reading.

What are your plans this Christmas?

Debbie: I’m spending Christmas with my lovely husband at home, then we jet off to spend New Year in Lanzarote!

Sophie: I’m going home to Macclesfield to stay with my family and catch up with friends. Hopefully Christmas Day won’t be a repeat of last year when I got home after a night out at 4am on Christmas Day, then had to sit with my little brother at stupid o’clock opening presents, feeling very grim!

That’s what Christmas is about, Soph!What’s Santa getting you this year?

Debbie: A brand new iPod, and a bag of goodies!

Sophie: A new watch and some perfume!

What Skip Hunk would you like to unwrap this Christmas?

Sophie: Tom Meighan, the lead singer from Kasabian. He’s gorge!

Debbie: Clint Eastwood, when he was about 30 years old. I’d dip him in cranberry sauce and eat him all up! (For readers’ information, Clint currently clocks in at 81, so we’re going back a few years…)

OK, bit of a weird choice of men there, but let’s Christmas is a real humdinger for both of you this year. Have a good one, sexy ladies!

The survey entitled, Work related ill health and sickness absence in the waste and recycling industry, is to last for three years with the final results due in 2013. The data is being collected from waste management companies and local authorities throughout the UK and covers 3,000 employees, about 2,000 of whom work for public sector employers.

The HSL’s sickness absence survey has found that each worker in the waste sector takes, on average, 12.3 days off per year due to sickness. The HSL has compared this to data collected by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) which has found that the average UK employee only takes 6.4 days off sick per year.

Steven Naylor, senior scientist at HSL, explained that the high level of public sector employees in the waste industry was a contributing factor to the rate of sickness absence. “Rates of absences are traditionally higher in the public sector compared to the private sector,” he said.

Mr Naylor said more data would be available at the end of the three year survey allowing a better insight into why the rate of sickness absence is so much higher in the waste industry.

However, he noted that only a small percentage of sickness absence was due to work related illness. “Only 20% of the absences that workers take are due to work related problems.”

Stomach and digestion-related illnesses account for almost 20% of absences with a further 20% due to back problems. Mental health problems account for 5%.

In terms of actual roles within the waste sector, the survey has found so far that refuse collection workers had a higher rate of sickness absence than others in the sector with almost 15% taking off periods of 25 continuous days or more due to sickness. Mr Naylor added that again the high level of public sector employees in this part of the industry was the reason for this.

The survey is designed to help characterise the profile of ill health for specific work areas and to better understand the reasons for sickness absence in order to reduce it.

All participating companies receive a breakdown of the figures annually, rather than at the end of the full three years, allowing them to action any health and safety improvements as soon as possible.

Brian McGuinn mistakenly dumped the sparkler along with his old razor blade.

His pregnant wife Anna had given him the ring while she was in the shower and because he had other rubbish in his hand he failed to notice the jewel.

He only realised what he had done after the rubbish had been collected from their house in Margate, Florida.

The couple ran out to try to find the bin men, only to find they had missed them by about 10 minutes.

Mrs McGuinn, 31, said: “The waterworks began. My husband looked on in horror.

“I felt absolutely devastated. I was shocked. I was crying. I felt helpless.”

She called a waste management company and was told her husband could search for the sparkler in the plant’s rubbish pile.

The financial adviser then wore a protective suit, and a worker directed him to the area where his area’s rubbish was dumped 10ft high.

Her husband said: “Nastiness you wouldn’t believe. It was absolutely disgusting. It stunk beyond belief.

“The smell was God-awful. Everything unsanitary you could think of crossed my path at least a couple (of) times.”

But after just 30 minutes of sifting through the garbage mountain, he struck lucky when he spotted a tiny glimmer surrounded by black sludge, wedged between two brown bags.

“It looked like a screw, and I reached down, and it looped around my index finger,” he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

“I was ecstatic. It was like winning the lottery. It was probably one of the best moments ever.”

He added: “I’m not in charge of the ring anymore.” His wife added: “Never”.

Justin Hudson, owner of Butlers in Gloucester, has been told he’s only allowed to have a skip on the road outside his pub for 20 minutes.

“I only want it there for one day but they have point blank refused,” he said. This leaves him at his wits end as he has a beer garden full of rubbish and rubble from a £200,000 refurbishment.

The bar has been given disabled facilities, more ladies loos, a bigger and better dancefloor, cloakroom and soundproofing as well as some necessary building work. “I’m doing something to boost business in Gloucester, to give people somewhere to go and enjoy themselves but they are stopping me at every turn.”

There are double yellow lines on the road and Mr Hudson said contractors have been given around nine tickets over the past few weeks.

But when it comes to having a skip outside, he said the council was even more unhelpful.

“I told him to give the skip a parking ticket and I’d pay the fine but we’re not getting anywhere. I’ve got a pile of rubble in the beer garden which I can’t move. That pile of rubbish is a fire hazard. I can’t believe how difficult it’s being made. It’s a ‘computer says no’ attitude,” he added.

“I’ve tried several skip companies to come down and see if the work can be done in 20 minutes but it’s just not possible. To do that, we’d have to block off the pavement and I don’t think that’s right. I’m not asking them to bend the rules, I’ll happy pay any fee or a fine.”

Nick Peters, Gloucestershire Highways manager, said: “We are quite happy for Mr Hudson to have a skip outside his pub, but because of the double yellow lines we have asked him to fill it and take the contents away immediately. We are keen to support local businesses but we have strict guidelines which must be adhered to for the safety of the public and motorists.”

The business is facing a “massive” problem, and it’s already cost them hundreds of pounds and is slowly damaging its image.

What’s more, it has been told the firm has to pay to get rid of the rubbish as it is on private land.

Speedy Hire, in the Enterprise Centre in Keighley said people had repeatedly dumped large amounts of household waste behind its property.

The debris has included beds, mattresses, garden furniture, sofas and dining tables.

Glynn Collins, branch manager at the tool hire depot, said fly-tipping had been an “on-off” problem for the eight years he had worked at the premises. But he said the illegal tipping had grown more frequent in the last two or three years.

“In February I got so sick of it I had a skip brought in so we could get rid of the rubbish and pay to have this done out of our own pocket,” he said. “It cost us £1,000. We’ve been told that even if Craven District Council’s waste management team gets the rubbish taken away, we’ll still have to pay for it. I’m gobsmacked.”

A spokesman for Craven District Council said: “When waste is illegally disposed of on private land, it is the responsibility of the landowner to remove it.

“The landowner needs to secure the land in order to deter people from disposing of their waste. We will always try and assist if evidence is gained and provide information on how to secure the land, but unfortunately we also have to ensure that the landlord correctly disposes of the waste too.”

Mr Collins said: “This is happening round the back of our unit, which is an access point and can be reached by vehicles. They’re obviously doing this after dark and it could be getting worse now that the nights are getting longer.

“It looks like this is someone who is running a business, who can’t have this stuff legally tipped.

“It’s a pet hate of mine and I’ve got fed- up now. It makes our company look bad and it also affects the other companies next to us. Recently there’s been new rubbish dumped here every night. The public needs to know what’s going on.

“It’s very frustrating as it seems those responsible can’t be caught. The council can only clean things up after the damage has been done.”

Her label, Dumpster Design, was showcased recently at a show in Portsmouth introducing two lines – Dumpster Couture, an expensive range of couture pieces, and Dumpster Apparel – an off the hanger, more casual collection.

Dresses are made from rolled-up magazines, ‘handle with care’ stickers, and old deckchairs. One gown is created from a single Royal Navy flag.

Daisy, aged 20, has always been fascinated byhow things that might otherwise be thrown away can be used to create a thing of beauty.

Her Dumpster Couture line does just that – whether made from table cloths, old train tickets or discarded promo flyers, each piece is a work of art in itself.

“The two lines couldn’t be more different,” explains Daisy. “The Apparel range features one-off, highly bespoke pieces that are totally wearable. The Couture collection, inspired to  tackle today’s throw-away mentality, is an eco-friendly approach to fashion  with the result being unconventional and eye-catching one-offs that are quirky  and lots of fun!”

Halloween has been and gone, and we’re still unearthing plastic spiders and pumpkin seeds from the back of the sofa. However, there’s one gorgeous ghoul still lurking around – Craig Egan from Topskips in Cheshire. Having seen his pics, we needed to find out more of this sexy skeleton boy, so we gave him a good grilling, taking care not to melt his body paint!

Hi Craig – underneath the makeup, how old are you?

I’m 21, and an Aquarius.

What have you got on?

That skeleton pic was of me at Halloween, I went down to London and met up with some mates. We went to Supper Club in Notting Hill and had a very, very messy night.

Looks like it. What was that I heard about you chained to a lamppost that night in Westminster?

Complete and utter fabrication, your honour.

Mmm… so when you’re not scaring the bejesus out of the general public what do you like doing?

I spend my time at the gym and clubbing. And having tea at my mum’s. I also work like a trooper.

Doing what?

After-sales care… basically, looking after customers, making sure they’re kept happy and feel loved!

Any weird moments doing that?

There have been many. It’s the Great British public we’re dealing with here! There was one guy who accused us of circling his house with spy cameras and satellites.

What?!

Yeah, he ordered a skip, we arrived when he wasn’t in, and we needed him to open up the gate to allow access for the skip. He didn’t believe we’d been, and then said that we were watching him on our spy satellites and hidden cameras for him to leave his house, so we could say we’d visited when he was out… He was a bit paranoid.

Yeah, just a bit. Ideal skip chick?

Sienna Miller. Without a doubt!

She might be a bit too spindly to help out in the skip yard, but fair dos. Tell us a joke…

Why did the skeleton not go to the disco?

Cos he had nobody to go with. No ‘body’…geddit?!

Very good, Craig. Now get a pullover on, you’ll catch your death!

OK, Wendy – let’s get down to business, how old are you and what’s your starsign?

I’m 31 and a Taurus

What do you do at ADS Recycling?  I’mgeneral admin, I also stand in for the transport manager Alice when she is on holiday, I enjoy doing that job more because I get to chat with the driver and people who come in the yard to tip.

How long have you been working there?  Too long!Haha! About 3 years… I only work part time though.

What’s it like working with your sister?–It’s great! We both do different jobs so I think we work well together.  She gets on my nerves sometimes as I probably get on hers but we have never ended up fighting YET like we used to do when we were kids!

That’s a good thing! What’s your favourite part of the job?There is a few different things really but my main one is the girly chats in the office – (while we’re working hard of course!) I also enjoy Fat Fridays which is when we all weigh ourselves and if we have lost weight we treat ourselves to bacon butties!

Nice idea – we should introduce that to our office! What’s the least favourite part of the job? Checking the drivers tachographs – don’t ask me how but one of the drivers always manages to get them covered in mud before he hands them in to me EWW! I also dislike going home of course, haha!

We believe you, millions wouldn’t, Wendy. What’s the weirdest/funniest thing you ever found in a skip at ADS?Well there is one driver who often brings us “skip treats”, such as pens, teddys, pictures but I think the worse one was a whistle in the shape of a willy! Ew!

Wow, a willy whistle? Obviously the product of a hen night! How did you get to be bodypainted up in the photo sent? I went to Fuerteventura on holiday and to visit my mum, one of her friends was doing a charity calendar and he was short of people so I volunteered – I’m Miss December!

Who would your dream skip hunk be?My boss Neill Thomson! (Maybe I can get a payrise!)

We like your style, Wendy. Go on Neill – she’s gone to great lengths here to get a payrise, we think she deserves it. Good luck Wendy! (Oh, and if you manage to persuade Neill to be a skip hunk in a future issue, even better!)

The villages of Glees and Wassensach now take part in an annual downhill wheelie bin racing – in which competitors speed down a hill clinging to the back of their council-provided waste receptacles.

But officials have discovered that some contestants have already been resorting to nefarious means to gain an advantage.

‘They are supposed to be exactly as the council provided them, but we have found one or two trying to improve their chances with unapproved adaptations like skateboard wheels,’ commented one official. Naughty!

Like all major sporting events, the results of the race will be screened nationwide on a cable and satellite channel.