WENDELL STEAVENSON
© VEOLIA
Once a year the UK has an Open House day where all sorts of places—from Downing Street to farms, mines and schools—open their doors to the public. One dismal rainy Saturday last autumn, I went along to the open house at the Veolia recycling sorting depot in Southwark. I walked 15 minutes from the bus stop through low red brick estates, across the Old Kent Road, to an industrial area with an old gas works and a bus depot. The Veolia recycling facility was built in 2012 and is housed in big corrugated sheds. I wasn’t expecting it to be a popular destination, but when I arrived I was told there was a two hour wait for a tour.