PEOPLE throw out the most amazing things in their rubbish.

House and car keys and jewellery are some of the more common items found in the skips of household waste at recycling centres operated by Yorwaste throughout North Yorkshire.

Household waste recyling centre manager Peter Kennedy says: "We often get calls from people saying they have lost their car or house keys and, amazingly, we sometimes find them among the thousands of tonnes of rubbish which is taken in by Yorwaste's seven landfill sites."

More unusually, false legs, full-size mannequins and even a set of false breasts have been unearthed in recent months.

Most people use the sites on Sundays, but Mr Kennedy says users would find the sites less busy at other times - they're open throughout the week and in summer months until 7pm.

* Yorwaste recently won a 2001 Green Apple Award for National Green Champion of waste recycling.

Updated: 09:31 Thursday, December 27, 2001