The sections below show what happens to each of the material types that are accepted at the Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in Warwickshire.
Batteries
Household batteries
Household batteries are sent to G&P Batteries in Northamptonshire to be recycled.
Car batteries
Car batteries are sent onto Enva in Northamptonshire or EMR Ltd (Judkins only) for processing where the lead and plastic are separated, and the battery acid made safe. The car battery you recycle will typically be used to make more car batteries.
Cardboard
Cardboard is sent on to Casepak in Leicestershire and Smurfit Kappa in the West Midlands (Judkins only) for recycling. Once free of contaminants it is sorted into different grades, baled and stored ready for delivery for the next step in the recycling process. Cardboard you recycle typically comes back as paper bags, paperboard packaging and new cardboard boxes.
Cartons
Cartons are sent to ACE UK recycling mill in Halifax where they are baled and processed into a number of different products, ranging from plasterboard liner to high-strength paper bags and envelopes.
Clothes and shoes
Clothes, textiles, and shoes are collected by WARD, a family-run business. Focusing on Reuse as opposed to just Recycling which is far more environmentally friendly and is proven to be the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly route to disposing of the items you no longer need. This process has a positive effect on the quantity sent to landfill, with WARD processing over 200 tonnes of textiles every month. The textiles are both exported and sold within the UK with any unusable items being processed into wiper rags or energy from waste to divert from landfill.
WARD carefully removes unusable items to ensure that they are not shipped abroad, passing on a problem to another country. WARD is a full member of the Textile Recycling Association, thus always working to the highest industry standards. WARD works closely with charity partners and the local community.
Cooking oil
Cooking oil is sent to Living Fuels a state-of-the-art recovery facility in Thetford to be cleaned and reprocessed. Once recovered it becomes an environmentally friendly bioliquid used to generate carbon-neutral electricity for UK homes and businesses.
Electrical goods
Small domestic appliances (such as vacuum cleaners, irons and hairdryers) and large domestic appliances (such as cookers and ovens) are taken to EMR Ltd in the West Midlands who test the goods for safety and suitability for reuse.
Those not suitable are broken down into their component parts for recycling. They are then made into new products.
Fluorescent tubes
Fluorescent tubes are sent to Wiser Recycling in Norfolk to have their mercury safely removed and the aluminium and steel separated. The high-quality glass cullet is treated and used within fibreglass and block manufacture.
Foil
Aluminium foil is sent either to Whites of Coventry or EMR Ltd in the West Midlands, where it is processed and cleaned. It is then re-melted to be made into new aluminium products such as car parts.
Did you know?
Aluminium is 100% recyclable and can be melted down and reformed many times over.
Food and drink cans
Food tins and drink cans are sent either to EMR Ltd in the West Midlands or Whites of Coventry.
Steel and aerosols are separated from the aluminium cans using a magnet. They are baled and processed by type. Aluminium items can be recycled indefinitely, and quickly back into their original form. Steel can also be recycled time and time again without loss of quality. Once processed new steel products such as bikes, cars, bridges and paperclips are made as well as new food and drink cans.
Fridges and freezers
Fridges and freezers that are not suitable for reuse are sent to EMR Ltd in the West Midlands to be dismantled to elemental compounds such as copper, aluminium and steel. Over 80% of the material in each fridge is recycled into new products.
Furniture
Furniture suitable for reuse is sent on to community reuse schemes to be repaired and reused.
Furniture that is not suitable for reuse is either recycled with the wood or scrap metal or sent to landfill at Bubbenhall or Ling Hall in Warwickshire.
Garden waste
Garden waste collected at the recycling centres is sent to Berkswell Recycling Limited for processing.
Glass
Glass is sent to Berryman Glass Recycling processing facilities in Yorkshire. Different colours of glass are separated using lasers. It is crushed to become glass cullet. Any contaminants such as paper and metal are removed. The cullet is mixed with raw materials and melted in a furnace. The molten liquid is moulded or blown into new glass bottles and jars.
Hardcore and rubble
Hardcore, rubble and soil are sent to Brinklow Quarry to be separated and reused, except Judkins where it goes to Bubbenhall or Crown Waste in Nuneaton. The soil is often used as topsoil when capping off and landscaping landfill sites. The hardcore is broken down and used as aggregate in the construction industry, often in road building.
Household waste
Items that are deposited in the household waste bins are either sent to landfill at Bubbenhall or Ling Hall in Warwickshire or sent to energy from waste (EfW) facilities run by Veolia in Staffordshire or CSWD In Coventry.
Did you know?
To combat the cost of disposal Warwickshire is now sending more household waste to EfW than Landfill.
What is EfW?
EfW is a technology that burns household waste at high temperatures under carefully controlled conditions to produce electricity which is mostly fed into the National Grid.
Mobile phones
Mobile phones are recycled at all Warwickshire household waste and recycling centres where they are either sent on for reuse or shredded for recycling.
Paint
Paint not suitable for re-use is sent to Paint 360.
Paint can be offered for reuse through online reuse networks such as Freegle and Freecycle.
If it is a small amount it can be dried out in the tin and go in the general waste. Please see our A-Z of Recycling for further guidance.
Paper
Paper is sent to Casepak Ltd in Leicestershire to be sorted, heated and pulped ready to be re-made into new recycled paper products.
Paper can be recycled into numerous products such as egg cartons, paper plates, construction paper, phone books or even cat litter.
Plasterboard
Plasterboard is sent to either AR Richards or Wilshees Recycling (Judkins only) where it is bulked before being hauled to a reprocessing site where it is turned into new gypsum-based products, which can be used in the plasterboard and cement industry.
Plastic
Plastic tonnage at the recycling centres is very low and goes to various local outlets including Sherbourne Recycling or Wilshees Recycling (Judkins only).
Did you know recycling one plastic bottle saves the same amount of energy needed to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours?
Printer cartridges
Printer cartridges suitable for reuse are sent to Zero Waste Recycling.
Scrap metal
Scrap metals are sent to either EMR Ltd in the West Midlands and Whites in Coventry (Facebook). At these facilities, the metal is separated into different types to then be melted down. It is then recycled into a wide range of new metal products. Virtually all metals can be recycled into high-quality new metals.
Street sweepings
Street sweepings currently go to a Treatment Facility run by Suez and located in Coleshill. The process separates the road sweeper waste into separate saleable streams.
TVs and monitors
TVs and monitors are taken to EMR Darlaston. Those suitable for reuse are tested and sold on. Those not suitable for reuse are broken down into their component parts for recycling. Glass in the screens can be reused in the manufacture of new televisions and monitors. Other materials such as ferrous metals and non-ferrous metals are recovered for recycling too.
Used engine oil
Used engine oil is sent to Duston Oils in Northamptonshire or ENVA in Newark, Nottingham (Judkins only). Water, chemicals and other impurities are extracted from the oil to refine it for reuse as new engine oil or as a fuel for industry.
Wood and timber
Wood and timber is sent to A&A recycling where it is sorted and either recycled or sent to a biomass facility.