J&B Recycling Knowledge

For businesses across the North East, waste collection is only one part of the process. Once your recycling leaves your site, a carefully managed journey begins - focused on compliance, quality and maximising material recovery.

At J&B Recycling, part of FCC Environment, we provide recycling services to commercial organisations and local authorities across the region. Materials collected from offices, retail units, hospitality venues, schools, healthcare settings and industrial sites are transported to our Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in Hartlepool for processing.

Operating from four sites - Hartlepool (Head Office), Washington, Middlesbrough and Baltic Street - we manage significant volumes of material each year using advanced sorting technology and experienced operational teams. Our role is to ensure that what your business separates for recycling is handled efficiently, transparently and in line with environmental legislation.

So, what actually happens to your recycling - from the moment we collect it from your premises to the point it leaves our facility for reprocessing?

1. Collection

Recycling is collected from businesses across the North East and transported to one of our recycling facilities. We have 4 sites across the North East; Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Washington, where it eventually ends up in our MRF in Hartlepool. Once it arrives on site, the material enters the sorting process.

2. Arrival & Initial Inspection

When materials arrive at our MRF, they are unloaded into designated bays before entering the processing line.

At this stage, our recycling operatives carry out visual checks, removing obvious contamination and unsuitable items. These early interventions are essential for protecting machinery and improving the quality of material further down the system.

3. Mechanical Sorting

Materials then move into the mechanical sorting system, passing through x different machines, which sort by shape, size and material type. Here are a few examples:

The Trommel

This large rotating drum separates materials by size. Smaller items fall through perforations in the drum, while larger materials continue along the line. By separating material streams early, we create a more controlled and efficient sorting process.

Ballistic Separator

The ballistic separator separates items based on their shape and weight.

This stage divides materials into:

- 2D materials – such as paper and cardboard

- 3D materials – such as plastic bottles and containers

- Fine particles that drop through for separate handling

This is an important stage for fibre quality, helping reduce contamination between paper and container streams.

Eddy Current Separator

To recover valuable metals, materials pass through an eddy current separator.

Using powerful magnetic fields, this technology repels and ejects non-ferrous metals, such as aluminium cans, from the remaining material stream. This ensures more recyclable metal is captured and kept within the recycling system.

Optical Sorters

As materials continue through the system, optical sorters use infrared scanning to identify different types of plastics and fibres. Targeted air jets then separate materials with precision. 

AI Technology

In addition, our site is equipped with an AI-powered robotic arm installed by Recycleye and funded by Tetra Pak. 

This system uses visual recognition software to identify food and beverage cartons on the conveyor and remove them automatically. A two-stage checking process ensures high levels of accuracy and reduced contamination. 

Unlike traditional machinery, the AI system continuously learns and improves over time, adapting to different waste streams.

4. Manual Quality Control

While advanced technology enables us to process material efficiently, our experienced operatives play a vital role throughout the process. 

Manual quality control checks take place after mechanical separation, ensuring materials meet required standards before moving to the next stage. This combination of technology and human expertise allows us to maintain high-quality outputs.

5. Baling/Storage

Once materials are fully separated and quality checked, they are prepared for onward transport. Depending on the material type and market requirements, this may involve compacting into bales or storing the material loosely in designated bays.

Baling makes materials easier to store and transport efficiently, while loose storage is used where it is more appropriate for the end reprocessor. In both cases, materials are consolidated and prepared for reprocessing into new products, such as cardboard packaging, metal products and recycled plastics.

Each load represents material that has been diverted from disposal and returned into productive use.

6. Reprocessing