Visit to the Bywaters Lea riverside recycling facility:
The Material Recovery Facility (MRF) processes 250,000 tonnes of dry material per year for domestic and commercial clients (including Veolia that collects our rubbish in Camden).
What we learned
If you want to see a MRF in action:
|
The main source of contamination in the dry recycling:
The machine cannot recycle:
|
The material that is sorted (glass, cardboard, paper, metal) is separated and sent to other industries for reuse or in the case of plastic, shipped to countries like Indonesia , India, Vietnam & Poland.
What cannot be recycled (roughly 10%) goes to an ‘energy from waste’ plant.
IMPORTANT FACTS
Why carrying your own reusable bottle, cup, food box and cutlery where you can, is the best thing we can do:
1. Any cardboard that is lined with plastic (like coffee cups) cannot be recycled. So the brown cardboard food boxes/plates that are often considered a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic cannot be recycled either, for the same reason as coffee cups - it is too difficult & therefore not cost-effective to separate the plastic from the cardboard. These also go to an ‘energy from waste’ plant. So they should not be put in the recycling bin in the first place.
2. Compostable items (cutlery, plates, plastic bag, etc) should not go in a council food waste bin because they can’t break down as quickly as food and they cannot be recycled. If left unburied in landfill, they degrade & give off methane gases. Unless you are going to bury compostable items in your garden, or the councils come up with a dedicated way of dealing with compostables, they go the way of non-recyclable waste and get incinerated. Compostables are often seen as an ‘eco’ alternative to single-use plastic but until there’s dedicated infrastructure to ensure they’re properly disposed of, we are not really sure they’re a better alternative.
What cannot be recycled (roughly 10%) goes to an ‘energy from waste’ plant.
IMPORTANT FACTS
Why carrying your own reusable bottle, cup, food box and cutlery where you can, is the best thing we can do:
1. Any cardboard that is lined with plastic (like coffee cups) cannot be recycled. So the brown cardboard food boxes/plates that are often considered a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic cannot be recycled either, for the same reason as coffee cups - it is too difficult & therefore not cost-effective to separate the plastic from the cardboard. These also go to an ‘energy from waste’ plant. So they should not be put in the recycling bin in the first place.
2. Compostable items (cutlery, plates, plastic bag, etc) should not go in a council food waste bin because they can’t break down as quickly as food and they cannot be recycled. If left unburied in landfill, they degrade & give off methane gases. Unless you are going to bury compostable items in your garden, or the councils come up with a dedicated way of dealing with compostables, they go the way of non-recyclable waste and get incinerated. Compostables are often seen as an ‘eco’ alternative to single-use plastic but until there’s dedicated infrastructure to ensure they’re properly disposed of, we are not really sure they’re a better alternative.
For more information on what you can and cannot recycle, click here
Did you know?
The difference between these logos