Your recycling goes through a journey from your home to various processing facilities, where it is sorted, processed and transformed into new products.
Dry mixed recycling
Dry mixed recycling is taken to our Material Recovery Facility in Edmonton.
Here, the recycling is sorted on conveyor belts by machine into various waste streams for onward journeys, which vary depending on the material.
Food waste
Food waste is taken to a special anaerobic digestion plant in Mitcham where it is turned into fertiliser for local farms and energy for the national grid.
A byproduct of the process is biogas, which is produced and then used to power homes and businesses.
Garden waste
Your garden waste is a brilliant example of a circular journey.
Once collected, your garden clippings and trimmings are taken to our processing plant in New Years Green Lane, Harefield, where they are processed into fertiliser and used to grow more plants.
Textiles
We work with the charity Traid who offer free, dedicated collections from your door for clothing and textiles. Items are hand sorted and then re-sold in Traid's charity shops.
All profits raised go towards Traid's projects, which aim to improve conditions and working practices in the textile industry.
Small electricals
Items deposited in the pink small electricals bins (found in our libraries and other council buildings) are processed at a specialist facility where they are broken into pieces and hand-sorted, with items such as batteries and circuit boards separated, as they contain precious metals.
The remaining pieces are shredded and separated according to material before being recycled into a range of objects - from materials for children’s playgrounds to life-saving medical equipment.