What happens to your recycling

Blue bin and bag recycling

The collection crews collect and empty the blue bags and blue bins into a split bodied collection vehicle before delivering the material to a Waste Transfer station.  For more details please see this short video.

The recycling is then taken for sorting to a recycling facility at Birmingham to be separated into different material streams and then sent on for further processing.  

Tins and cans

Food tins are melted down to make new steel items such as car parts and fridges.

Drinks cans are crushed, melted and made into new cans.  New drinks cans can be in the shops again in 6 weeks.

Glass bottles and jars

Glass bottles and jars are washed, crushed, melted and moulded into new glass bottles.

Some recycled glass is ground down and used in making roads.

Plastics

Plastic bottles are cut into flakes, washed, dried and made into new products such as garden furniture and wheeled bins.

Cardboard

Cardboard is flattened, folded and recycled to make new packaging such as cereal boxes and washing powder boxes.

Paper

Paper is sent to a paper mill, pulped down and turned into new paper.

Please see the table below for a list of locations where the recycling which East Staffordshire Borough Council collects ultimately ends its journey.    

Garden waste

Your garden waste goes to a composting facility operated by Biffa where it is processed and turned into a soil conditioning compost.

Grey bin waste

All waste from your grey bins is sent to an Energy Recovery facility where it is converted into energy.  By disposing of waste in this way across Staffordshire, we could generate 23 megawatts of energy – enough to power 30,000 homes for a year. 

Please see the table below for a list of locations where the recycling which East Staffordshire Borough Council collects ultimately ends its journey.