Guide Recycle

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1. Where does my recycling go?

Paper

Paper is taken to Palm in Norfolk to be recycled. It's mashed up into pulp and reformed into large paper rolls which are cut down to size. The paper is reused within the UK by printing companies to make newspapers.

Glass

Glass is sorted into colours and taken by Berryman Glass to Yorkshire to be recycled. Glass is 100 per cent recyclable. However, we can't recycle ceramics, Pyrex, drinking glasses or plate glass. Our glass is made into new glass bottles and jars or crushed up and used as aggregate to make roads.

Tins, cans, aerosols and foil

These are taken by various companies to be recycled. Steel cans are mixed with iron ore, lime and other materials to produce steel which can be used to make car parts, household parts, pipes, steel sheets and many more products. Cans and foil made from aluminium are recycled into new aluminium products.

Clothes/textiles

Clothes are taken by the Salvation Army to be recycled. Some of the textiles are shipped off to developing countries and deprived areas around the globe. Other textiles are shredded and become cleaning cloths or felt to be used by the car industry for sound proofing.

Batteries

G & P Batteries Ltd take batteries to be recycled. The batteries are shredded and all the different metals are separated and sold to be reused in other products such as new batteries or metal products.

Plastics

Household Plastics collected from the kerbside are taken by various companies to be recycled. The plastic is cleaned, shredded and used to remake other materials such as garden furniture, bins, insulation and fleece clothing. Plastic is lightweight and bulky so it is better if the bottles are flattened for recycling.

Food waste

Food waste is taken to an anaerobic digestion plant in Holsworthy to be recycled. Food waste is mixed with cow slurry or garden waste and then it is turned into compost and returned to local farms as a soil fertilizer for arable or grazing land. The gases produced are converted back into electricity and fed into the National Grid.

Cardboard

Cardboard collected from the kerbside is compressed into large bales at our depot. It is then sent off to reprocessors in the UK and some of the material is sent into Europe to be processed into new cardboard products.

Small electrical items

Small electrical items such as toasters, irons and kettles are sent to a local metals company called Simms. The valuable components within the electrical items are stripped out and recycled.