What happens to your recycling after it’s been collected? Where does it go? What’s it turned into?
You will find the answers to all those questions here.
What happens to the content of the pink recycling sacks?
What happens to the paper and card?
What happens to the food waste?
What happens to the clear textile sacks?
What happens to the garden waste?
What happens to the small electrical items?
The Pink Recycling Sacks
Use them to recycle: food and drink cans, foil ready meal trays, foil pie trays, foil takeaway trays, clean cooking foil, metal jar lids, sweet biscuits and cake tins, empty aerosol cans, plastic bottles and lids, including empty bleach, detergent and cleaning products, fruit juice containers, and glass bottles and jars.
We collect approximately 11,000 tonnes per year .
Rolls of pink sacks are delivered to all households twice a year. You can check your delivery dates here.
You can also order more pink recycling sacks, food waste liners and new containers free of charge on the MySouthend portal. They can also be collected from the Civic centre and libraries across the City.
Where are they taken?
They are taken to our waste transfer station in Southend-on-Sea after collection, where they are weighed and bulked up, before being sent to our sorting station in Southwark where they are sorted and separated. They are then sent to three different recycling centres in the UK, one of which is owned by Veolia in Rainham; where they are baled (squashed into cubes) and sold onto reprocessors to turn them into new products.
Video of Southwark Material Recovery Facility
What is their content turned into?
Glass: Crushed into small pieces called 'cullet', which is then melted in a furnace at temperatures of 1,500-1,600°C. The melted glass is used to make new glass bottles and jars. Other uses for crushed recycled glass include aggregate for road construction, glass fibre and water filtration.
Tins and Cans: Crushed and placed into a furnace, which melts the metal into ‘ingots’. These are used by manufacturers to make products, such as new cans and car parts. Steel and aluminium are particularly easy to recycle and the recycling markets are well established.
Cartons: Recycled in the same way as paper and card, but first the plastic lining has to be separated.
Plastics: Shredded, washed, melted down and formed into pellets. These pellets are used by manufacturers to make anything from clothing, chairs and toys… to new plastic bottles and recycling bins!
Animations of the recycling process
How is it recycled?
Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays.
Glass bottles and jars.
Metal cans and tins.
The Blue Box for Paper and Card
Use it to recycle: Mixed paper and card, newspapers, magazines, cardboard, shredded paper (place under other paper and card so it doesn't blow out of your box)
Paper and cardboard that is collected from your blue box, are collected separately from the other mixed recycling (glass, plastic and metal) as the quality of the recycled material is higher when the card is kept clean and dry.
We collect approx 3,300 tonnes per year.
You can order a new box or lid free of charge on the MySouthend portal.
Where are they taken?
The content of the boxes is weighed and bulked at our waste transfer station in Southend-on-Sea and then transported in articulated lorries to the Kemsley DS Smith paper mill in Kent.
Video of the DS Smith Paper Mill
What are they turned into?
The paper and card is separated and graded for its quality then washed to remove glue, film and ink and then mixed with water to create a pulp, which is made into new paper and card.
Did you know that a newspaper can be recycled and be back on the shelf for sale in under a week?
Animation of the recycling process
The Food Waste Bin
Use it to recycle: all cooked and uncooked food waste including fruit peelings, vegetable peelings, bones, coffee grounds, cheese, meat, bread and pastries, tea bags, plate scrapings, fish, and eggshells.
We collect approximately 4,000 tonnes a year.
You can order a new kitchen or kerbside caddy free of charge on the MySouthend portal.
Where is it taken?
Once the food waste is collected from your blue food waste bin it’s taken to an Anaerobic digestion (AD) plant located in East London, at Dagenham.
What is it turned into?
At the Anaerobic Digestion plant, food waste is mixed in large vats and as bacteria break down the food waste, they release methane which is used to generate renewable energy. After treatment, the remaining liquid can be used to fertilise crops.
Animation of the recycling process
The Clear Textile Sacks
Use them for: mixed textiles and clothes, paired shoes, worn or torn clothing, handbags, curtains, pillowcases and sheets.
We collect approximately 60 tonnes per year.
Rolls of textile sacks are delivered to all households twice a year. You can check your delivery dates here.
You can also order more textile recycling sacks free of charge on the MySouthend portal. They can also be collected from the Civic Centre and libraries across the City.
Where are they taken?
The Clear Textile Sacks are taken to our waste transfer station in Southend-on-Sea, where they are bulked and weighed and then transported to Chris Carey Collections Ltd in Beckenham, Kent.
What are they turned into?
98% of the textiles are reused and the remaining 2% are used as recycled materials.
Items that are not fit to be reused can be cut and processed into industrial wiping cloths or classified for fibre reclamation.
Did you know clothes and textiles are easy to repair or resell, so why not check out LoveYourClothes.org.uk to find out how to get started.
The Green Garden Waste Wheeled Bin and Sacks
Use them for: grass cuttings, leaves, tree, shrub and rose prunings, branches up to 15cm (6") in diameter and 90cm (3 foot) in length, cut flowers, weeds.
Home composting allows you to recycle your garden waste materials in your own garden. If this is not possible the garden waste collection service offers an alternative way of recycling your green organic material.
The garden waste service provides a weekly collection in either a wheeled bin or compostable sacks. Click here for more information.
Where is it taken?
Garden waste is bulked and weighed at our Southend-on-Sea waste transfer station and is then transported to a Veolia composting site in Pitsea.
Video of a Veolia Composting Facility
What is it turned into?
The garden waste is shredded, mixed and regularly turned at an open window composting site. The heat generated through the natural breakdown of organic material by bacteria helps to kill pathogens and weed seeds and turns the material into compost.
You can buy the compost produced by Veolia at: www.pro-grow.com
Animation of the recycling process
Small Electrical Items
Place the items in a plastic carrier bag and leave next to your recycling and waste on your scheduled collection day.
You can recycle: hairdryers and straighteners, telephones and mobile phones, chargers, plugs and wires, video and DVD players, digital alarm clocks and watches, toasters and kettles, laptops, radios, electronic toys.
Where are they taken?
Small electrical items are taken to European Metal Recycling Ltd for sorting.
What are they turned into?
The items are shredded into small pieces to help the sorting process. Strong magnets are used to remove ferrous metals. An eddy current separator is used to separate non-ferrous metals. Plastics are then separated using near infrared light or density separation. Each raw material is then sent to a recycling facility to be made into something brand new.
Did you know On average, each person in the UK buys almost three new electrical items each year – or around 170 million nationally.