What happens to your recycling?
Items from household waste recycling sites and kerbside collections are sent to different places for reprocessing. Some household waste recycling sites have a shop where reusable items are sold to the public. We also work with charitable organisations.
See how the recycling collected from some residents' homes is dealt with:
- The journey of your recycling
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.
Plastics
Plastics are sorted into different grades at sites in the UK. Most plastic is turned into plastic pellets that can be used to produce new plastic products such as bottles and food packaging. Anything that can't be recycled is used as a fuel.
Glass
Glass bottles and jars are separated and cleaned and are typically processed into materials used in the construction industry, or back into glass bottles.
Light bulbs
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 melted down to produce new aluminium products such as cans. Steel cans are sent to various UK plants ending up as new cans or other steel products, such as white goods and bicycles.
Electricals including TVs, monitors and fridge/freezers are dismantled into different materials. 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, and in the production of carpet underlay.
Garden and food waste
Garden and food waste is processed locally at Woodlands In-vessel Composting Facility in Whitesmith, East Sussex. The material is shredded, mixed and loaded into a series of enclosed tunnels. The temperature, moisture and oxygen levels are controlled to optimise the conditions for composting.
This produces a soil conditioner product that is available for residents to buy at household waste recycling sites in East Sussex.
Construction waste, wood, MDF and plasterboard
Hardcore, rubble and soil is reused in the UK construction industry for example to construct site roads.
Waste wood and MDF is used as a fuel at biomass recovery facilities to generate electricity.
Plasterboard is separated into gypsum and paper. 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, becoming reusable fuel oil.
Cooking oil is turned into biofuel.
The acid is removed from car batteries and the lead is recycled into new car batteries.
Household batteries are sorted and the material treated and used in various manufacturing industries.
Tyres in good condition are reused, but if not they are recycled and used in land engineering projects such as coastal protection schemes.
