Why recycle? And what happens to it?

Recycling makes sense - both for our future and our wallets. Our Recycle more... action plan is packed with actions to help us to increase our recycling rate to 50 percent by 2023.

Your recycling efforts also help to keep your council tax down by generating up to £1 million a year which is re-invested into council services.

It also means we're cutting the amount we send to landfill or incineration each year. Using recycled materials to create new products saves energy and the need to dig up more precious natural resources.

We go out to the market place every two months with our recycling, ensuring we achieve the best prices. On this page you can find out what we currently do with your recycling after we've collected it.

What happens after we collect your recycling?

Take a look at the video below to find out what happens to your recycling after we collect it from your house.

After transporting it to our depot, further separating and baling the recycling, we sell each type of recycling to different re-processing companies.

Plastic

All our plastics are recycled right here in the UK! Plastic from your red box is collected from our depot by Roydon and transported to their plastics recycling facility in Swinton, Manchester.

At the facility, it is sorted into different plastic types which then undergo the following processes:

• PET bottles and trayssuch as drinks bottles and meat trays are recycled in Manchester into plastic flake. The flake is then turned into sheet, ready to be made into trays or new bottles.
• HDPE bottles such as milk bottles are recycled into plastic pellets in Redcar. The pellets are used to manufacture bottles.
• HDPE bottles such as cleaning bottles are recycled into underground pipes in Lincolnshire.
• PP pots and tubs such as butter and chocolate tubs are recycled into plastic flake in Warwickshire. The flake is then turned into sheet to manufacture PP packaging.
• Contamination such as paper and film is sent to a solid recovered fuel (SRF) and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) facility in County Durham to be made into fuel for energy generation.

Check which types of plastic you can recycle.

Aluminium

Aluminium cans and foil from your red box are brought to our recycling depot and later collected by Cello.  

The aluminium is taken to a facility in West Bromwich where it is processed into ingots. The ingots can then be used to produce aluminium cans for use in the food and beverage packaging industry in the UK, Europe and USA, and sheet metal for use in the automotive industry.

Did you know, recycling just one aluminium drinks can saves enough energy to power a TV for three hours? Aluminium can also be endlessly recycled so recycling your aluminium cans is worth the effort!

Check which aluminium items you can recycle.

Glass

Your glass is collected by URM who transport it to their material recovery facility in Knottingley, West Yorkshire. Here it is separated from any paper, aluminium caps, and other non-glass items, and processed into glass cullet (crushed glass). This process involves screening the glass by size and colour and separating it with optical sorting technology.

The company then send the glass cullet to a number of companies in the UK who process the cullet into new bottles and jars for use in the food and beverage industry.

Glass is recyclable pretty much forever – throwing it away really is a waste! Check which glass items you can recycle.

Steel

Steel cans and tins from your red box are collected from our depot by Casepak. who take them to their Materials Recycling Facility in Leicester.

The steel is then sent to various steel mills abroad for shredding and manufacturing into rebar for use in the construction industry.

Check which steel items you can recycle.

Cardboard

We sell cardboard to Baker’s Waste who take it to their facility in Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire. At the facility, the cardboard is baled ready for transportation to various recycling mills in the UK and abroad. At the mills, the cardboard is re-pulped, screened and cleaned, the fibres are then pressed and rolled into paper.

Check how to recycle cardboard in the yellow bag.

Paper

We sell paper to Baker’s Waste who take it to their facility in Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire. At the facility, the paper is baled ready for transportation to various recycling mills in the UK and abroad. At the mills, the paper is re-pulped, screened and cleaned, the fibres are then pressed and rolled into paper.

Check how to recycle paper in the blue bag.

Textiles

Find out how to recycle old clothes, shoes, accessories and bags - and what happens to them.

Garden waste

We deliver your garden waste directly to an open windrow composting facility in Lount, near to Ashby operated by SUEZ. The garden waste is shredded and placed into windrows (long heaped rows) which are turned on a regular basis over a 14 week period. This matures it into a PAS 100 compost which is a standard for composting recognised in the organics recycling sector. The compost is used on agricultural land.