What happens to the things we recycle?

Aluminium cans


Aluminium cans are collected from your blue box and local recycling sites and taken to mills where they are sorted, have any coloured coating removed and shredded. These shreds are then melted in a big furnace, poured into ingot* casts and left to set.
* Every ingot contains around 1.6 million cans. Ingots are taken to mills and rolled into foil to make more cans!
Recycled aluminium cans can be made into new cans - it takes only 6-8 weeks for a used can to be recycled into a new can!
Clothes
When recycling clothes you have lots of choices! You could either donate them to a charity shop, use your black bag to recycle them with your blue box or take them to a local textile bank!
What happens if I decide to use my black bag or visit a textile bank to recycle my clothes?
Whichever method you choose to use the clothes are collected together at a warehouse and sorted. Any wearable clothes are sent to developing countries for less fortunate people to wear and any non-wearable clothes are used for industrial rags and wipes.
Glass


Glass is so easy to recycle!
Glass is collected from your blue box and local recycling sites and taken away to be processed. Once crushed any impurities are taken out and it is melted in a furnace. The melted material is then moulded or blown into new glass bottles or jars or used to produce other items such as:
'processed sand' which is used in golf bunkers
'glassphalt' for road surfaces. Did you know the M6 motorway was resurfaced using 14 million crushed bottles!
Paper


Paper is collected from your blue bag and local recycling sites and taken to a paper mill where it is sorted and graded. Once there it is 'slushed' into pulp then cleaned and de-inked until it is suitable for papermaking.
Recycled paper can be made into lots of new products, such as:

• newspapers
• magazines
• printing paper
• cardboard
• toilet rolls
• loft insulation
• paints

Plastics


You can recycle plastic bottles at lots of sites around the borough.
To recycle plastic is a very complex process however once completed lots of new products can be made!
Products made from recycled plastic include:

• plastic bottles
• fleeces
• polyethylene bin liners and carrier bags
• flooring and window frames
• building insulation board
• video and CD covers
• fencing and garden furniture
• water butts, garden sheds and composters
• seed trays
• fibre filling for sleeping bags and duvets
• many office accessories

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