How recycled waste in Cornwall is turned into everything from aeroplanes to bowling greens
Here is where your recycling goes, and what it is turned into...
Did you remember to put your bins out this week and your recycling if it’s your street’s week for a collection?
But when putting out your coloured bags filled with paper, card, tins and bottles along with your black box with glass for recycling or taking a car boot load of trash to the tip have you ever wondered where it goes?
And no, before anyone suggests it, it doesn’t just go in with all the other rubbish and disappear to the Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre (AKA the Incinerator).
Materials which are disposed of at Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in Cornwall or left out for the kerbside collection are reused and recycled for the manufacture of everything from aeroplanes to bowling greens.
Cornwall Council has revealed where all the waste which is put out for recycling or taken to the tip goes to be processed and what it is used for.
Paper – goes to recycling companies in Somerset and Kent where it is reprocessed into 100% recycled paper for newsprint and packaging.
Cardboard – is also taken to Somerset and Kent where it is sorted and reprocessed into new cardboard.
Steel cans – these go to Swansea and are recycled into many different products including cars, bridges and cans.
Aluminium cans and foil – all these go to companies in Swindon and Swansea where they are melted and turned into ingots to be used to make everything from foil trays to aeroplanes.
Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays – a number of different companies take these in Wiltshire, Warwickshire, Kent, Essex and Buckinghamshire where they are sorted, shredded, melted and reused to make things including garden furniture, refuse bags and drainage pipes.
Glass bottles and jars – are first taken to Falmouth port before then being shipped to Scunthorpe or Tilbury. There they are recycled and used to make glass bottles.
Clothes and textiles – a company in the West Midlands takes these materials and sends them for reuse in developing countries or they are shredded to make cleaning cloths and felt materials.
Batteries (car and household) – these go to Birmingham where useful materials are recovered depending on the type of battery.
Energy saving light bulbs and fluorescent tubes – a firm in Manchester takes individual components from these for recycling or re-use in a variety of industries.
Engine oil – is taken to Worcestershire where it is recovered, cleaned and resold for its original use.
Fridges/freezers – go to a company in Liskeard which recovers the CFCs from refrigeration gases and insulation panels while the metal, plastic and foam are separated for use in manufacturing.
Garden waste – this stays local going to Bodmin, Roche, Hayle and Trerulefoot where firms compost it for agricultural and horticultural use.
Gas bottles – are taken to London, Kent and Leicester to be returned to the company of origin.
Rubble – goes to companies in St Austell and Hayle which re-use it as aggregate for building purposes.
Metal – a company in Par takes this and separates it for recycling.
Small electrical equipment – also goes to Par where the metal, plastic, glass, batteries and circuit boards are separated for recycling or reuse.
TVs/monitors – are taken to Liskeard where the different materials are separated and recycled or reused.
Tyres – these go to a firm in Redruth which shreds them into rubber chips to be used in everything from equestrian surfaces, play areas, pathways, gardens and bowling greens.
Wood – is taken to companies in Roche and Hayle which process waste timber and use it as biofuel.