The shabby, lop-eared, moth-eaten crew may look cheerful enough on the face of it, but these teddies are stuffed.

They have been consigned to the rubbish bin of history, destined for the great tip in the sky or, more likely, Sutton Courtenay landfill site.

Ken Cox and his colleagues at the Redbridge waste disposal centre in Oxford collected the dozens of cuddly toys left by punters and piled them up by the exit.

The assorted bears, gorillas, tigers and lions were all dumped by their owners after a lifetime of cherished care and are due to end up rubbing shoulders with kitchen scraps, disposable nappies and sweet wrappers in one of Oxfordshire's landfill sites.

Roger Wilkins, contracts manager for Oxfordshire Waste Disposal, which manages the Redbridge site, said the teddies could perform one last, useful function before being heaved into a dumper truck.

"The staff on site have from time to time put them near an exit sign and it has had a beneficial effect.

"When people are leaving the site they tend to slow down and have a look, which is a good thing because we don't want traffic belting out of here on to the road," he said.

"When the toys are really battered, they will be disposed of. Although since staff started piling some of them up, members of the public have been bringing their own teddies in." But ultimately, it is a temporary reprieve. "They are destined for landfill," said Mr Wilkins.

There is an alternative. It is possible to put trashed teddies into the textile recycling bins provided at waste centres like Redbridge, from where they will go to a sorting plant and eventually end up as cloths used in the motor industry.

If they are in a reasonable condition, they can go to charity shops or local playgroups.

So how callous do you have to be to bin your bear? What kind of person tosses aside their childhood friend after years of silent devotion and support?

Ian Pout, owner of Teddy Bears, of Witney, and an acknowledged expert in the field, said: "It's a toy that people cling on to more than any other.

"It is unusual to throw them away, but sometimes it might not be people throwing away their own teddy bear.

"Parents left with their child's bear when the child has grown out of it might throw it away."

At the end of line - which describes Redbridge waste reception centre for most of the stuff that arrives there - sentiment is foreign to some people.

Mr Pout said: "I guess some people always will throw them away. They don't realise they are a friend for life."

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