J&B Recycling Knowledge

Have you ever wondered what happens to your kerbside recycling? Some people might think the 'bin fairies' magically transform your unwanted household recycling waste into something new, but after you pop it in your bin at home, it actually goes on an epic journey...

Most people will have seen the bin wagons that collect waste from the various bins outside your home or business. If it is a recycling bin, your waste is transported to a Material Recovery Facility (MRF), like ours, where materials are sorted and separated into different types of material before being sent to manufacturers who make it into new products. It is a complicated process involving lots of machinery as well as people to quality check the process. Watch our video below to see it in action >>

Once materials have been sorted, recycled materials become valuable commodities in the worldwide market.

What are the challenges?

The biggest problem for a recycling facility is contamination - when incorrect items are put in the recycling container. These items must be removed otherwise the quality of the recycling would be reduced - affecting the markets into which it can be sold. This not only slows down the process, but if these items are missed, it can clog or damage the machinery and other equipment.

Where does the material go once it has been sorted?

At present 100% of the glass, newspaper, magazines, paper, aluminium and steel we handle remains in the UK, plus 80% of plastic stays in the UK, all for recycling, with the remaining 20% being exported to a reputable businesses in Western Europe to be recycled.

Only 20% of card/cardboard remains in the UK as there are only three papermills for it in the UK, so supply of this material is much greater than the capacity to process it. If we didn’t export these materials, there would be a huge surplus of unprocessed card/cardboard and the cost to establish a new mills is prohibitive – though an additional one will be coming on line in the next few years. 80% of card/cardboard we recover is exported to reputable mills across the world, all of whom we have a longstanding record with.

J&B Recycling provide waste management solutions for local authorities and businesses across the North of England. Our main Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) is based in Hartlepool and we have a second site in Middlesbrough, making us ideally placed for collections across Teesside (Hartlepool, Stockton, Middlesbrough and Darlington). We also have a site in Washington and we operate established collection routes throughout Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, Sunderland, North Tyneside and Northumberland. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if we can help with your waste collection.