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What kind of rubbish was on the dump and how much of it was there?

Initially, about 1000 tonnes of rubbish were used to build the dump that our participants would be living on. In addition, most days during their stay a dumper truck would arrive with a fresh delivery of rubbish for the participants to sift through for useful items.

The dump was intended to reflect the wide variety of waste that we produce in the UK. As a result, it didn't just feature household waste of the type that we all throw away in our kitchens. Household waste is actually just a small part of Britain's overall waste. Construction waste represents a far bigger chunk, so as a result there was plenty of construction waste on the dump. The group found some of this very useful when building – timber offcuts, pallets, scrap metal, old doors and windows were all eagerly seized upon.

The biggest items on the dump came from the local civic amenity site and had all been thrown out by local residents. They included all sorts of furniture, white goods, garden furniture and more unusual items, such as an air hockey table and cuddly toys.

There were also bits and pieces on our dump that wouldn't normally be found on a landfill site. Normally, items such as scrapped cars and car parts, tins of paint, tyres, old fridges and televisions wouldn't be allowed to be disposed of through landfill. We had special permission from the Environment Agency to have these items on our dump during filming as long as they were stored correctly and then disposed of appropriately after the filming.