What happens to the recycling?

Green Bin

The Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) opened in 2009 and sorts up to 85,000 tonnes of recyclable waste each year. The centre in Mansfield aims to help Nottinghamshire recycle 52% of its waste by 2020. At the moment the MRF recycles less than 40% of Notts' waste.

This is what happens to the contents of your green bin:

1. The recyclables are tipped from the lorry and loaded onto conveyor belts to begin the sorting process
2. Angled, vibrating conveyor belts take plastic, paper and cardboard through sophisticated machinery which ensures the material is sorted.
3. The recycled material then passes through two trommels (big cylindrical sieves with holes in) for further separation.
4. Next an overhead magnet removes the steel, whilst aluminium is removed when the recyclables pass through a special machine.
5. The material is sorted by hand to remove contaminants and larger items of cardboard.
6. Plastic bottles, yoghurt pots and margarine tubs are sorted with infrared sensors.
7. Finally, the separated materials are compacted, baled and sent onto re-processors to be made into more newspapers, cardboard, tins, plastic bottles and fleece (from plastic bottles).

Glass Box

All the glass we collect from your doorstep is taken to Recresco, a reprocessing company at nearby Kirkby in Ashfield. The glass arrives in lorries – up to 10.5 tonnes at a time. It is weighed to inform us how much is being recycled.

Then the glass is processed – one colour at a time. If the glass arrives with the colours mixed up, it needs to be separated using expensive hi-tech sorting equipment.

Once in the processing plant it is cleaned and anything which is not glass is removed, such as bottle tops or paper.

All the glass is broken down into smaller pieces called glass cullett, which is then sent on to glass bottle manufacturers. There the glass goes straight into a furnace to be melted and made into new bottles and jars. It is important that all non-glass, such as the lids, is removed or it could be embedded into a finished bottle at the factory.

Garden Waste

The garden waste lorry tips its contents at a farm near Oxton on the A6097. The photo shows a freshly dropped bin load.

The garden waste is piled up into long rows, called ‘windrows’. When a windrow is big enough, it is shredded and quickly turns from green to brown. The garden waste is then turned three times because the composting process is speeded up when air is introduced.

The temperature of the windrows is monitored – it can reach up to 70°C. The compost can be ready six weeks after shredding. It is then spread on the farm’s fields to improve fertility.

Textiles

We can recycle many things today, and that includes old clothes and shoes. If they are clean and good quality you can take them to a local charity shop. Some charities deliver collection bags to your house, but please make sure to only donate to registered charities.

You can also use the textiles and shoe banks at our recycling sites around the borough (click here for locations). Most banks are collected weekly by Ragtex UK and taken to a depot in Leicester where the items are sorted and graded. Some banks are also collected by the Salvation Army and other organisations.

This clothing is then passed on to countries where the recipients are more than happy to wear the clothes we have finished with. Better quality items are taken to Eastern Europe, whilst other weather-appropriate items are sent to Kenya and Pakistan, where they are mended, washed, ironed and sold on market stalls.

Around 35% of the items of clothing that cannot be worn are cut up into cleaning rags or shredded and made into sofa and duvet stuffing. The remaining 10% of textiles that can’t be reused or recycled are sent to landfill.

Electrical items

When we have collected residents' old televisions, DVD players and washing machine etc, they are taken to Sims Metal Management to be recycled. For an interactive view of how Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) is recycled follow this link to Sims' website.

Batteries

You can recycle household batteries at the Leisure Centres run by Gedling Borough Council, the Civic Centre, Jubilee House and all libraries within Gedling Borough.

Once the battery containers at these locations are full they will be collected and taken for recycling. For more information about the recycling process follow this link to websiteBatteryBack's.

All retailers which sell more than 32 kg of batteries per year have to take back waste portable batteries without charge. This is equivalent to one pack of four AA batteries a day and supermarkets and shops must comply as part of targets on cutting landfill.