take up a lot of space.

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Talbot's involvement with waste management stretches back six years -- to their first contract at the Pembroke Dump in 1987.

Last November they became the "First Couple'' of recycling, when their family company, Talbot Enterprises, earned the government contract to collect all recyclables.

Mr. Talbot noted that their three eldest sons all worked for the company.

Henry, 31, is assistant manager to his father. Stuart, 33, and Kyle, 32, are each in charge of pick-ups in a different recycling zone.

Mrs. Eunice Talbot is the controller. "I handle everything to do with recycling,'' she said.

And Mr. Talbot said his work related more to the dump and the excavation side of company operations.

To prepare for the recycling business, the family trained in New Jersey at Rutgers University, and later toured recycling plants and dumps all along the Eastern seaboard.

Asked what made them want to go into recycling, Mr. Talbot replied: "I guess we are conscious. Dealing with solid waste at the Pembroke Dump, we knew things couldn't continue this way.'' "It needs to be closed,'' Mrs. Talbot agreed.

If Bermuda had not begun recycling, we would never have been ready for the Tynes Bay Incinerator, she said. "Pembroke Dump is full. It has served its purpose, and now we have to move on.'' Mrs. Talbot said she found "working towards the future'' the most satisfying part of her job.

"I would like to see a day when the hotels are involved, where even airplanes coming in would sort their waste. Recycling must be a total package in order for it to work.'' The Talbot team gets trucks out onto the road for 7.30 a.m. in each zone to pick up the blue bags.

Problems arise when people don't put the correct things in their bags, said Mrs. Talbot. Plastics or aerosol cans were sometimes mixed in, and the bags were often overloaded.

Blue bags put out for collection have increased from about 5,500 a week in January to about 7,000 now, she said.

Looking to the future, the Talbots said environmentalism should be impressed on local children.

"The children get onto their parents, and then the parents try to please their children by recycling.'' FIRST COUPLE OF RECYCLING -- Mr. and Mrs. Henry Talbot, who run Talbot Enterprises.