What happens to my recycling?
Plastics
Plastic is taken to Cumbria Waste Recycling at Hespin Wood, Carlisle where it is squashed and bailed using very strong wire and then wrapped in plastic ready for collection by the purchaser.
Plastics are sent to a re-processor where they are sorted, ground into flakes, washed, dried and made into pellets ready for reuse. The plastics are recycled at various locations, including Cheshire. Plastics are recycled into different products depending on type.
- High-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic milk bottles are made into watering cans.
- Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) pop bottles are made into a whole range of products including work wear, carpets, fleeces (it takes 25 bottles to make a fleece jumper), garden furniture and sleeping bag stuffing.
Cardboard, Paper and food/drink cartons
Cardboard and paper from Green bags and recycling banks is taken to Cumbria Waste Recycling at Hespin Wood in Carlisle where it is sorted and bailed up ready for reprocessing. Food/drink cartons are removed from the process and bailed separately and sent to the Tetrapak processing factory to be recycled. The recycling process is similar for cardboard and paper, which includes adding water to pulp and then pressing the fibres into new sheets. It can take as little as 28 days for your recycled newspaper to be born again!
Glass
Glass can be recycled again and again and by recycling it you are saving new materials from being quarried. Glass is collected from recycling banks or Greenboxes and taken to British Glass in Alloa, Scotland for reprocessing. It is washed and broken up pieces (called cullet). At this stage it can be processed into a number of products, added to tarmac or melted and remoulded into new glass bottles or jars.
Tins and cans
Empty tin and cans are collected from Greenboxes and recycling banks, taken to the depot and sorted using a magnet to separate steel from aluminium. We cannot accept 'sandwich' type foil, but larger metal trays can be recycled.
They are then crushed and baled to save space when transporting to the reprocessing factory. The bales are melted down at high temperatures and the liquid metal is reshaped into new products ready for purchase again. Aluminium can be recycled again and again and could end up in products such as a bicycle, a car or just made into another tin can! Steel food cans are usually reprocessed into steel sheets that are pressed and made into new products, such as girders for the building trade.
You don't need to remove labels from tin cans to recycle them but they do need to be quickly rinsed out please!
Garden Waste
Garden waste from your green wheeled bins is collected and taken to our special composting site at Hespin Wood. It is shredded and turned many times to produce a fine compost that is sold wholesale to DIY stores.
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