The Recycling Journey

Do you ever wonder what happens to the cans, paper, plastic bottles and other items that you put out to be recycled?

Putting your recyclables out for us to collect is just the first step on a journey to turn your rubbish into something new.  The green bins are emptied by GYBS and then all the recyclables are transported to the NEWS Materials Recycling Facility at Costessey, Norwich.  These are then sorted into the various types and transported to the following places;

Newspaper and magazines  - All newspapers and magazines are taken to North Wales for recycling at the UPM-Kymmene paper recycling plant at Shotton, Deeside.  Here over 650,000 tonnes of old newspapers and magazines are recycled back into 100% recycled newsprint ready for printing as newspapers again.

Mixed paper – Pulp Friction organise the selling of the material to paper mills for the manufacture of grey or brown packaging board.  Currently all the mixed paper from NEWS goes into a brown board mill in Kent.

Cardboard –All the cardboard is currently taken to Severnside Waste Paper in Sittingbourne, Kent.  This is recycled back into brown packaging board.

Steel cans – Steel food cans are baled and transported to Corus in Carmarthenshire where all the material is recycled back into steel.

Aluminium cans – Aluminium drinks cans are all taken by Novelis, Warrington for recycling back into aluminium.

Plastic bottles – Recoup organise outlets for the three streams of plastic which are sent to a variety of markets for recycling which can change depending upon market demand.  Most markets are UK based, the only exception is some PET  (polyethylene terephthalate) which is exported to Holland.

(Colourless plastic bottles i.e. coke bottles etc.) – either go to Lincolnshire or Holland.  PET can be made into a variety of products, currently some is going back into the recycled PET market for remanufacture back into plastic bottles.  Most is used to manufacture PET fibre products for use as insulation material, fleeces, duvets etc.

Natural HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) (Milk bottles) – This goes to Redcar.  Some of the material has started to go into the manufacture of recycled HDPE milk bottles, most is taken for the production of a wide range of plastic products such as recycling containers, outdoor furniture etc.

Mixed plastic (other bottles i.e. shampoo, bleach etc.)  - mixed plastic goes to EuroKey in Leicester and then sent to specialist plants for further sorting into various plastic types.  Most is recycled into various types of packaging products.