A delightful day at the dump: The trick is not to leave with more stuff than I arrived with!'

"When an embalmed rabbit in a Perspex box arrived at the dump in Chingford, north-east London, last year, with fur on its head but its organs and skeleton exposed to teach veterinary students about the digestive system, Lisa Charlton knew she had to save it from landfill. She was sure that one of her regulars, a man interested in anything a bit weird, macabre and bizarre would buy it. And he did."

"Charlton, who has worked at the recycling centre's onsite ReUse shop for a year and a half, has salvaged items ranging from furniture, old toys and lampshades to walking frames brought in by local people. Items that have come through her shop include vintage crockery, antique crystal vases with solid silver rims, a spindly chair from the 1920s and an old ammunition box."

"I'm waiting for the day that one person will buy something for 2 and sell it for a profit, she says. The Del Boy moment. The kind of item that she has missed and happily missed because we're not experts."

The Kings Road Reuse and Recycling Centre in Chingford, north-east London, operates an onsite shop where staff member Lisa Charlton salvages items brought to the dump for resale. Notable finds include an embalmed rabbit specimen used for veterinary education, vintage crockery, antique crystal vases with silver rims, 1920s furniture, and cast-iron cauldrons. Charlton has worked at the ReUse shop for eighteen months, identifying items with resale potential and matching them with interested customers. The recycling centre, opened in 1994 on a former playing field in Waltham Forest, remains active with steady visitor traffic. Charlton acknowledges the shop staff lack expert knowledge but successfully redirect valuable items from landfill to new owners.

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