Why recycle? And what happens to it?

Recycling makes sense - both for our future and our wallets. Thanks to your hard work, in 2019/20 our recycling rate increased to 46.3 percent - which is above the national average! 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 around £500,000 a year which is re-invested into council services.

But it also means we're cutting the amount we landfill every 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 Cello Recycling Ltd and transported to a plastics recycling facility in the Greater Manchester area. Here the plastic is washed, sorted into different plastic types, shredded and then melted into pellets. The pellets can then be used to make any item from plastic!

Here’s what your plastic is recycled into:

• PET bottles (drinks bottles) are processed into plastic flakes and sheet, ready to be made into containers, trays and bottles for the food and beverage packaging industry.
• HDPE bottles (milk jugs and cleaning bottles) are processed into plastic pellets. The pellets are used to manufacture garden products, pipes and packaging in a range of industries in the UK and Europe.
• PP pots, tubs and trays are also processed into plastic pellets. The pellets are used to manufacture non-food packaging and paint pots.
• Any 2nd Fraction Paper/Film is sent to a Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) facility where it is processed and then transported to energy from waste plants and cement kilns in the UK and Europe.

Check which types of plastic you can recycle

Aluminium

Aluminium cans, aerosol and foil from your red box are brought to our recycling depot and later collected by Real Alloy.

Your aluminium waste is converted into aluminium alloy ingots which are then sold within the UK and across the European Union for use in the automotive, construction and packaging sectors.

Did you know, recycling aluminium drinks cans saves up to 95% of the energy needed to make aluminium from its raw materials? So recycling your aluminium cans is worth the effort!

Check which aluminium items you can recycle

Glass

Glass is processed by Cello Recycling. It is transported to their glass container facility in Yorkshire where it is sorted by colour and processed into glass cullet (crushed glass). The glass cullet is then melted in a furnace ready to be made into new food, beverage, and pharmaceutical containers at the site. None of the glass is sent abroad, it is all used within the UK.

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 Clearpoint Recycling. They process and re-bale the steel cans into mill grade bales.

This means they are ready to be processed into new steel products by TATA Steel in Port Talbot and sometimes by Celsa Steel in Cardiff, for use in the construction, automotive and aerospace industries. No steel is exported outside the UK.

Check which steel items you can recycle

Cardboard

We sell cardboard to Smurfit Kappa who take the baled cardboard to their depot in Tamworth, ready to be sent to their Kent or Birmingham mills. 100% of the cardboard sent to these mills is processed into recycled paper reels that go onto corrugators and box makers to be manufactured into new packaging.

Check how to recycle cardboard in the yellow bag

Paper

We sell our paper to Palm Recycling who transport it to their paper mill based in King’s Lynn. Here the paper goes through a pulping process and any contaminants (less than 1%) are removed such as staples and plastic covers on magazines which are sent to an incinerator in Norfolk. After the pulping process, the pulp is used to manufacture newsprint in the UK.

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 it.

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 after which it has matured into a PAS 100 compost. PAS 100 is a standard for composting recognised in the organics recycling sector. The compost is used on agricultural land and capping old landfill sites all within the UK.