Mountains of Mannequins in the Midlands

Recycling is good, but re-using items instead of manufacturing new things is even better for the environment. Mannequins are made of fiberglass, which won't decompose and is notoriously difficult to recycle. Roz Edwards sort of fell into the business of putting mannequins back into use in one way or another. The ones that are useable are refurbished and sold or rented. Others go into a mountain of fake body parts where people can take as much as they can in 15 minutes for £75. They not only go back to the fashion industry, but are used in movies and music videos, art projects, and holiday decorations. Oh yeah, and then there are those folks who put one in their car to discourage dangerous people from approaching (which is good) and to use the carpool lane (which is bad). Even totally ruined mannequins are good for a scary Halloween tour! It's creepy and crazy, but Edwards' project Mannakin has turned out to be a viable business. Tom Scott shows us how the weirdness works.

I bought a German made plus size female mannequin from a store that was getting newer and cheaper ones. My mannequin had glass eyes. My friend and I got the thing home and we put it in the basement in a corner. The basement was rather dark and what little light came in through the windows made the eyes shine. I put a long black Cher wig on it's head and an apron that had a bib portion on it so it covered her 'bits' perfectly. Looked just like a dress. We came upstairs and sat down in the livingroom and waited for my son, who was in high school, to come home. Finally he came. I said hello and then, in my stern mother's voice, said: 'Bobby', I am sick and tired of you leaving all your clean clothes laying around on top of the washing machine. Please take care of this at once!"He went to the basement door and my friend and I listened to him clomping down the stairs. All was very quiet for about 20 seconds and then I heard my son make a loud gasp and then a scream and he came running up the stairs yelling and crying real tears about some woman in the basement with a knife. My friend and I just laughed and laughed. Gotcha, kiddo. That was payback back for scaring me a few weeks earlier.***My son and I tried to scare each other every so often. I won that round***