Where does my recycling end up?

  1. Dry recyclables are all separated at our plant at Greendale in Woodbury Salterton. They are baled and sent to a range of processors. After processing they are sent to manufacturers to be used as secondary raw materials to make new products. Most of the processors are located in the UK but sometimes we use processors based in Europe or Asia.

You’ll find a list of our recycling destinations below. We use several different processors depending on changes in the market. We are unable to name the contractors, as the details are commercially sensitive, but you can see here that they are mostly based in the UK and subject to rigorous vetting by Devon County Council or our contractor Suez.

The table below shows where our materials have been sent to recently:

Material

Processor Location 

Oct 2025 Nov 2025 Dec 2025 Jan-2026 Feb-2026 Mar-2026
Paper  Norfolk 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Cardboard  Kent 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Steel Cans Carmarthenshire 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Aluminium Cans and Foil South Yorkshire 0% 100% 48% 0% 0% 100%
  Swansea 100% 0% 52% 100% 0% 0%
Plastic Bottles, Pots, Tubs and Trays Northamptonshire 23% 20% 18% 0% 9% 0%
  West Yorkshire 15% 24% 9% 27% 0% 0%
  Derbyshire 24% 10% 9% 33% 37% 0%
  Lincolnshire 0% 9% 9% 20% 18% 61%
  Nottinghamshire 38% 37% 55% 20% 36% 39%
Glass Bottles and Jars South Wales 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Small Electrical Equipment Devon 100% 100% 52% 0% 0% 0%
  Somerset 0% 0% 48% 100% 100% 100%
Green Waste East Devon 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Food Waste Somerset 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Clothes and Textiles Northamptonshire 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

 

When this content has been updated

Last updated 8 July 2026