Everything Goes to Landfill, Doesn't it?

Well, actually, NO

In the UK ...

we recycle almost a quarter of household waste, and the material is used to make new products

• All the newsprint (the paper for newspapers) manufactured in the UK is now made from 100% recycled
• The UK currently recycles around 50% of container glass (like bottles and jars). That’s doubled over the last 5 years
• Any glass product can use up to 80% recycled material
• It takes about 25 2-litre drinks bottles to make one adult size fleece jacket. 486 million plastic bottles were recycled in 2003

As well as the environmental benefits of recycling, there are financial incentives too – a growing number of companies such as those featured on www.recycledproducts.org.uk rely on recycled materials for their products and services. If everything really went to landfill, these companies wouldn’t exist!

So where does waste go?

It depends on the material, and the way it is collected from your house. If it is not sorted into separate materials by your refuse collectors, household waste for recycling often goes to a materials recycling facility to be sorted. The sorted materials are then sold to companies who make it into new products. Here's a peek into the world of waste recycling.

• Aluminium cans are shredded, melted down, and the molten aluminium poured into giant ingot moulds. The ingots are then sold to companies who make new products such as new car and plane parts, or maybe the can containing your next drink!;
• Glass is crushed and added to the mix of raw materials that make up new glass containers. The materials are melted in a furnace, and then moulded or blown to make new bottles and jars. Glass is also used to make unusual stuff like as an ingredient in new bricks and as a filtration media for swimming pools.
• Sorted plastics have a wide variety of uses and can be shredded, washed, melted and moulded into new products such as new bottles, garden furniture or fleece jackets.
• When Paper gets to the recycled paper mill it is pulped, cleaned and then screened. In the case of printed paper, such as newspapers and magazines, the ink is then removed using soap and bubbles of air. The “pulp” is then ready to be made into paper, which happens on very large machines. It is drained, pressed, dried and then made into reels or sheets. In the UK we consume over 200 kg of paper per person per year, approximatly half of which is recycled paper.
• Steel is a brilliant product to recycle, as it can be reprocessed again and again. Steel cans are melted down in a furnace and combined with other raw materials like molten iron. The hot steel is then cast into solid slabs which can be rolled into foil to make new cans. In 2003, we recycled 44% of the UK’s steel cans, and some steel products – like stainless steel – are made of 100% recycled steel.