What happens to the materials collected?
Paper
The paper is initially delivered to Wealden District Council's Materials Reclamation Facility (MRF) in Uckfield. The paper is stored under cover prior to being transported in larger quantities to Aylesford Newsprint in Kent, where it is made into 100% recycled newsprint called Renaissance. This is used by many of the national papers as well as local papers. It is used exclusively by the Friday-Ad group for example.
Cans, foil and plastic bottles
All recyclable materials are delivered initially to Wealden District Council's Materials Reclamation Facility (MRF) in Uckfield. Here they are sorted, any contaminants are removed, and they are bulked up prior to being transported to the works where they are recycled into new products.
- Steel cans go to South Wales to be de-tinned and are then used by Corus (ex-British Steel) for a variety of new steel goods. All steel products contain about 25% recycled material. The old cans may become scissors, paper clips, mountain bikes or fridges.
- Aluminium cans are recycled back into new aluminium drinks cans by Novelis (formerly Alcan), which is a purpose built facility in Warrington, Cheshire. This plant takes used aluminium cans from all over Europe.
- Aluminium foil is bailed at our MRF and taken along with the aluminium cans to Cheshire for recycling.
- Plastic bottles are bailed at our MRF and taken to AWS (Alternative Waste Solutions) in Llincolnshire where they use passive infrared technology to sort these three types of bottles, and then to wash and granulate them ready for sale, mainly in the UK, for new plastic products such as new bottles, wheelie bins, fleece jackets, sign posts and many more useful items.
Glass
The separate colours of glass are collected from the recycling points using split compartment vehicles and taken to our MRF in Uckfield where it is stored ready for collection. It is then taken to British Glass (also known as United Glass) in Harlow, Essex where the glass is crushed and screened to make 'cullet', which is used as a substitute for the raw materials used to make new glass.
Beverage cartons
Beverage cartons are taken to Tetra Pak Ltd by their contractor Bywaters, who collect directly from the recycling points. The baled cartons are dropped into a pulper, similar to a giant domestic food mixer, filled with water, and pulped for around 20 minutes. This breaks down the packaging to produce a grey-brown mixture. The aluminium foil and polyethylene are separated from the fibre, which is recovered to make new paper products, such as high strength paper bags or envelopes. The remaining mix of plastic and aluminium can then be used in furniture, to generate energy or even separated out into pure aluminium and paraffin.
Textiles and Books
Salvation Army collect the textiles and books directly from the recycling points. They are then taken to a central sorting facility to be graded, The clothes and books are then sorted for reuse/resale or recycling. Wearable clothes and shoes and reusable books are resold in the UK and abroad, helping those less fortunate than ourselves.
Un-wearable textiles are then recycled in a variety of ways.
- Cotton and Silk are used to make wiping cloths in industries such as mining and automotive and are also used in the manufacturing of paper.
- The fibres from woolen garments can be reclaimed to make new yarn or fabrics. First of all it has to be graded by type and colour by the mills so that re-dying is not necessary, therefore saving energy and pollutants. The fibres are then shredded, blended with other fibres, and "carded" to clean and mix it before being spun ready for weaving or knitting.
- Trousers, skirts and other remaining un-wearable garments are sold to the "flocking" industry. They are then shredded for fillers for things like furniture padding, car insulation, roofing felts and loudspeaker cones.
There are also a few other charities who have collection facilities for books, shoes and CD's within our recycling points.
