As an American reader, I really enjoyed the brief look into British day-to-day life that this story afforded. The central theme of Recycling, was recycling or rebuilding one's life from the dregs after a personal loss. The author's use of society's focus on recycling and the daughter's learning about the benefits of recycling really helped parallel her mother's experience in moving on after a painful break up.
I did feel at a few points as if the author was telling the story to me rather than showing it through action. It wasn't overwhelming enough to bother me and the other aspects of the story were interesting enough for me to keep reading. In particular, I loved the final paragraph about the butterfly. It was a lovely way to wrap of the piece.