While cricket interest over recent months has focused on England’s 3 – 0 victory over Australia in this summer’s Ashes series, the UK’s Sri Lankan community has had its own cricketing focus: the Festival of Cricket, organised by the Sri Lankan Schools Old Boys’ Associations (OBAs).

This year’s Festival of Cricket, held at the end of July, celebrated its silver jubilee and attracted over 5,000 people to the Merchant Taylors’ School Grounds, in Northwood. The Chief Guest was His Excellency Dr Chris Nonis, High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in the UK.

The event – billed as the largest Sri Lankan community gathering in Europe – raised money for cancer research in Sri Lanka and the UK, and among its attractions were a seven-a-side cricket tournament; live contemporary and traditional music, as well as baila (a form of dance music popular in Sri Lanka); trade stalls; a Sri Lankan Bazaar; children’s entertainment, and a display of Sri Lankan heritage and cultural dances.

When it came to clearing up after all of this, the Festival’s organisers turned to Waste King, the specialist collection, clearance and recycling company based in Hemel Hempstead.

Waste King supplied and, later, removed, a 16 yard skip from the School.

Glenn Currie, Waste King’s managing director, said: “As you can expect when several thousand people get together, there were plenty of food and drink stalls – many of them providing Sri Lankan foods. This meant that most of the waste that was collected in the skip comprised either bottles or food waste.This made it difficult for Waste King to maintain its record of recycling at least 90 per cent of every load of waste it collects – but we did separate all the food waste from the bottles and ensure that the event was as environmentally friendly as it could be in waste recycling terms.”