Recycling helps to reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change - it takes less energy to make recycled products than using raw materials.
This video explains what happens to the recycling in your blue bin.
Here's what happens to your recycling after you put it in your recycling bin or take it to recycling points or centre.
| Material | Where it goes | What it ends up as |
|---|---|---|
| Aluminium cans, tins, aerosols and foil | UK and EU | Shredded and melted into ingots which are used for making cans. |
| Steel cans, tins and aerosols | UK | Melted and rolled into coils and used for making new products such as bikes, cars, bridges, paperclips or cans. |
| Cardboard | UK, EU and Asia | Graded and pulped, and used to make cardboard based packaging products. |
| Paper | UK and EU | Pulped and used for making various grades of paper. |
| Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays | UK and EU | Flaked and washed and used for making new products. |
| Food and drink cartons | UK | Washed and segregated into plastic, paper and aluminium which are then used for making new cartons. |
| Textiles | UK, EU and Africa | Good quality clothes and shoes are reused. Any clothing items not suitable for reuse are recycled into industrial wipes. |
| Electrical and battery-operated items | UK, EU and Asia | Electrical items still in working order can be reused. Those that are broken should be recycled. LCD and Monitors contain light tubes containing mercury. The mercury removed and sent to a specialist mercury recycler. All TVs are shredded into their separate small components so that the materials can be properly separated. The materials then run through magnets and eddy currents to separate out different metals, and all materials are recycled - plastics, metals, cables and circuit boards. Circuit boards are sent to specialist circuit board manufacturers where plastic, gold, aluminium, and platinum are removed and remade into new circuit boards. Fridges and freezers are degassed and oils are removed before they are shredded into their separate components, and recycled in the same way as TVs. |
| Food waste | UK | This is recycled using a process called anaerobic digestion. |
| Garden waste | UK | Used to produce compost for landscaping and agricultural purposes. |
| Glass bottles and jars | UK | Become new glass products and other items such as insulation and water filtration aggregates. |
| Rubble | UK | Used for on-site restoration and re-used as aggregates. |
| Scrap metal | UK, EU and Asia | Recycled into new metal products. |