For most of us it’s a little bit of a mystery. We’re told to recycle and that it’s good for our environment – so we just do it. We clean all our jars, glasses and plastics put them in our boxes, wheelie bin or recycling bags and leave them to be collected.
We have seen the facts and figures about how recycling has helped the environment, and we know of the EU 50% recycling target that the UK needs to meet in 2020, but still the recycling process remains a little in the dark. What happens to our papers, bottles and tin cans once they go inside the bin lorry? Where do they go and what do they get turned into?
When the items you recycle are collected there are two options:
- Your recyclables are sorted kerbside into their respective materials inside the bin lorry.
- Your co-mingled recyclables are sent to the nearest depot where the materials are sorted out by hand or machine (or in some cases both!).
It is when they get to the recycling depots around the country that the real recycling begins.
What happens to paper and cardboard?
There are three grades of paper and cardboard: brown cardboard, mixed paper / cardboard and newspaper / magazines. Brown cardboard is baled and sent straight away to be reprocessed, whilst the mixed paper and newsprint are sent in their loose form.
But how is the paper recycled?
Water is added to the paper and cardboard to create a pulp, the water also cleans the paper removing any contaminants, glues and ink. Newspaper will be recycled into other newsprint and low grade mixed paper is recycled into a number of cardboard based packaging products.
FACT: It takes just 7 days for newspaper to be recycled and printed on again!
FACT: 100% of newsprint manufactured in the UK is made form 100% recycled paper.
FACT: It takes 70% less energy to create paper from recycled materials than compared to raw materials.
What happens to Plastic Bottles?
Plastic bottles are what they call ‘resource intensive’ in the manufacturing and recycling world. By this they mean that making plastic bottles from raw materials draws upon a lot of material including oil. By recycling we can reduce this demand on raw materials, conserving energy at the same time.
Plastic bottles are sorted by type of plastic and by colour when they get to the recycling plant. They are ten melted down straight away or flaked into pieces then melted down before re-shaping.
You recycled plastic bottle can turn into almost anything! It’s surprising how a plastic bottle can be re-used and re-cycled. It could be used to make new garden furniture, water butts, compost bins, plastic bottle or even a fleece jumper or jacket!
FACT: It takes just 25 two litre bottles to make one adult sized fleece jumper.
The UK also exports some of our recyclables to countries like China who have little raw materials. China, who has a huge manufacturing industry, relies on our recycled plastics to save their raw materials such as oil. Some might think that sending our recycled materials to China would increase our carbon footprint but there are benefits for doing so, such as:
- The recycled materials not going to landfill
- Using the container ships returning to China to send the recycled materials
- Minimising the worlds use and demand on raw materials, this helps to reduces energy use and carbon emissions during manufacturing processes.
What happens to food and drink cans?
Your food and drink cans are separated into steel and aluminium when they get to the recycling plant. A huge magnet is used to attract the steel cans to effectively separate the items. They then go on to different recycling processes.
What happens to the Aluminium Cans?
Firstly the aluminium cans are shredded to the sizes of a 10 pence piece. They are then passed through a magnetic drum system which removed any steel pieces. The outside of the can is cleaned and removed in the de-coating process which blasts air of 500˚C over the shredded pieces. These are then melted at temperatures up to 700˚C. Any gases and contaminants are then removed. The melted aluminium is pumped into moulds and chilled with cool water until it solidifies.
What happens to the Steel Cans?
Steel cans are sent straight to the furnace where they are mixed with molten iron and melted down. Oxygen is blasted into the furnace which heats to a huge 1700˚C. The liquid metal is then poured to make slabs which are rolled into coils. It is these coils that are used to make new products such as cars, bikes, paper clips, infrastructure, or just another food can. The possibilities are endless!
FACT: Recycling 1 tin can saves enough energy to power your television for up to 3 hours.
What happens to glass?
When your glass items get to the recycling plant, it first of all gets crushed into tiny pieces, and any contaminants are removed at this point in the process. After this some recycling facilities also use a mechanised colour sorting process which separates different coloured glass if required.
Then the shards of glass are mixed with other raw materials such as iron and cobalt to add colour or to improve the durability and properties of the glass. Finally, all the glass and raw materials are melted down in a furnace, before going to be re-moulded into new glass bottles or jars.
FACT: 80% of glass in the UK is sent to be recycled, the majority of which is used to make new glass bottles and jars.
References
Waste & Resources Action Programme (2015) Recycle Now. Available: https://www.recyclenow.com/ Last Accessed 22/05/2015.
Re3 (2015) Available: https://www.re3.org.uk/ Last Accessed 22/05/2015.