What happens to your recycled materials?
Where does it all go?
Click on a link below to find out more information about what happens to your recycled materials:
| Batteries | Green Waste |
| Books | Metal |
| Bricks and rubble | Mobile phones |
| Cans | Oil |
| Clothes & shoes | Paper & cardboard |
| Fridges | Timber |
| Glass |
What happens to recycled paper & cardboard?
Paper and cardboard are made from cellulose fibre, which often comes from pulped wood, but a number of other materials such as cotton, grass, or waste paper can also be used to make paper and cardboard.
Waste paper and cardboard collected for recycling is taken to a paper mill where it is pulped, processed and converted into recycled paper and other cardboard products.
About one fifth of the contents of household dustbins consist of paper and card, of which half is newspapers and magazines. This is equivalent to over 4kg of waste paper per household in the UK each week.
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What happens to recycled glass?
The conventional glass recycling process involves transporting the glass bottles and jars to reprocessing plants where they are washed and impurities are removed. Magnets, screens and vacuum systems remove metals, labels, bits of plastic and caps. The glass is then crushed up into cullet. Each colour is melted in a separate furnace before being molded into new glass or used for various other purposes including fibreglass insulation.
Recycled glass can also be used in road construction, for example as an aggregate for backfill and drainage trench fill or as road base material.
Other applications for recycled glass include cultured marble and coloured aquarium, ash tray or potting sand as well as decorative landscaping applications such as crystal paving and golf course sand.
Glass can be recycled over and over again. Recycling glass means less energy and resources are used in heating the furnaces.
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What happens to recycled cans?
There are two types of cans, tin-coated steel cans and aluminium cans.
When recycling tin cans, the tin and steel are separated. The tin coating is removed with a caustic detinning solution, which is then extracted from the solution by electrolysis. The remaining steel is rinsed, baled, and sold to a steel mill. The recycled tin is used by the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, while the steel is remanufactured into cars, cans and steel structures.
Aluminium cans are ground or shredded into small chips before being melted and cast into moulds. The moulds are sent to manufacturing plants where they are molded or rolled into sheets that can be shaped into various products including car bodies and drinks cans.
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What happens to recycled clothes & shoes?
Reusable clothes, shoes and household linens collected in recycling banks and during kerbside collections are sorted by the organisation collecting them. Those suitable for reuse usually find their way into charity shops. Some are sold on to people in developing countries where they provide employment through refurbishment and retail activities, as well as affordable clothing and household goods for local people to buy.
Lower quality cotton and towelling are recycled as wipes in this country, to ensure maximum use of the material collected. Other innovative uses for used textiles include using them to make animal rugs.
It is important that all textiles are kept clean and dry otherwise they cannot be reused - so make sure you put them out in a plastic bag to keep them dry. Make sure you tie your old shoes in pairs so that they can be reused.
In the UK, 2 million pairs of shoes are discarded every week.
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What happens to Green Waste?
Green waste collected at Calderdale’s Household Waste Recycling Sites is sent to a processing plant in Dewsbury where it is mixed with sewage sludge to be broken down and composted. It is then reused on Yorkshire Water Authority land as a soil improver. Some green waste from the Todmorden area is sent to a local farm where it is processed into compost to be put back onto farmland.
Green waste from Calderdale’s parks and open spaces is chipped and used as mulch on the parks and open spaces.
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What happens to batteries?
Alkaline batteries can now be recharged increasing their product life. Most batteries particularly lead-zinc can be completely recycled to make new batteries. The marketable products extracted from batteries during the recycling process include:
Nickel – used in the production of stainless steel.
Cadmium – a component used in new batteries.
Plastics – used in furniture.
Gold & Copper in small amounts.
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What happens to books?
The books placed in book banks are initially taken for sorting, where they are classified as either suitable or unsuitable for sale. If they are suitable for sale, the books could be placed into a shop. If they are unsuitable for sale, the books could either be sold to recycling companies, sent overseas for emergency aid, or given to other charities with special needs.
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What happens to fridges?
Fridges and freezers that are taken to recycling sites are usually either remanufactured for reuse or dismantled and recycled (i.e. broken down so that the different constituent materials can be recycled effectively)
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What happens to metal?
In some cases scrap metal is shredded and sent to a steel mill where it can be reprocessed and used in the manufacture of goods such as vehicles or construction materials.
Other uses include decorative purposes in items such as furniture.
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What happens to mobile phones?
Phones may be resold to raise funds for charities. They can also be refurbished and sold in other parts of the world, including developing countries.
Mobile phones contain toxic elements like Mercury, Cadmium, Lead, Galium Arsenide and other landfill hazards. Reuse transforms a potentially toxic discard into a valuable commodity. Phones that cannot be reused can be recycled for their metals and plastics.
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What happens to oil?
Waste oil collected at recycling banks can be regenerated to produce an oil which can be used again. Waste oil can be regenerated through laundering, reclamation or re-refining.
Laundering involves heating, filtration, de-watering and the addition of new additives to the oil before it can be re-used.
Reclaimed oil can be used for a further purpose, normally after removing impurities. For example, as a mould release in foundries.
Re-refining oil involves blending waste oil with base stock oil.
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What happens to bricks and rubble?
Bricks and rubble collected at Calderdale’s Household Waste Recycling Centres are sent for crushing and screening into different sized materials which can be used for a variety of purposes including road making and general fill material.
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What happens to timber?
Solid wood (not chipboard or MDF) collected at Calderdale’s Household Waste Recycling Centres are sent for processing into woodchip and chipboard to be re-used in the timber industry instead of virgin wood.
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