What happens to your recycling?

Items from waste recycling sites and kerbside collections are sent to different places for reprocessing. Some waste sites have a shop where reusable items are sold to the public. We also work with charitable organisations.

Cardboard and paper

Cardboard and paper are processed in the UK and abroad. Cardboard usually ends up as packaging materials. Paper is pulped, cleaned and made into new paper products.

Plastic bottles

Bottles are sorted into different grades at sites in the UK. The plastic is turned into a raw material to make food packaging.

Glass and lightbulbs

• Glass bottles and jars end up at different UK plants and are used as a building material in the construction industry.
• Fluorescent tubes and low-energy lightbulbs go to Surrey where they are crushed and separated into glass, aluminium and phosphor powder. The glass and aluminium is used to make new products. Mercury is safely removed and the powder is re-used.

Metal and electricals

• Metal is sorted locally, then processed and made into new products.
• Aluminium cans are sent to Cheshire and melted down to produce new cans. Steel cans are sent to Birmingham or Sheerness ending up as new cans or other steel products, such as white goods and bicycles.
• Electricals including TVs, monitors and fridge/freezers are dismantled in Lewes. Cathode ray tubes and environmentally harmful gases are removed and the metals and plastics are recycled.

Textiles and shoes

Wearable items are sent to developing countries. Others become industrial rags or stuffing for cushions and mattresses. They are also used to strengthen recycled cardboard.

Green garden waste

Green waste is processed locally and used to build tall rows of shredded waste called windrows. Natural micro-organisms break it down into compost which is screened, sieved and used as soil conditioner in the agricultural industry.

Construction waste, wood, MDF and plasterboard

• Hardcore, rubble and soil is used to construct site roads or as a cover material at local landfill sites.
• MDF is broken down and used as a biomass fuel at an energy plant in West Sussex.
• Timber and wood is turned into woodchip suitable for boardmaking (such as MDF).
• Plasterboard goes to North Yorkshire, where the gypsum and paper are separated. Gypsum is used as agricultural fertilizer and in the oil absorbency industry, or for new plasterboard. The paper is used for animal bedding.

Oil, batteries and tyres

• Engine oil is cleaned and filtered in Suffolk, becoming reusable fuel oil.
• Cooking oil is turned into biofuel.
• Car batteries are sent to Derbyshire where acid is removed and recycled. The lead is recycled into new car batteries, ceramic glazes and the PVC that coats electrical cords.
• Household batteries go to the West Midlands. Metallic compounds are removed, along with the plastic and steel cases. The rest is melted down and used in various manufacturing industries.
• Part-worn tyres are re-used by a company in Worthing. Others are used as sport or play area surfaces, carpet underlay or blocks for construction and coastal protection schemes.