The material that you put into your green bin goes to the
Materials Recycling Facility in Fengate, which Peterborough
City Council owns and is operated by Viridor, a leading UK
recycling company.
The mixed material works its way through the
plant and is separated into each material type by different sorting
processes. Each material is baled and quality checked before being
sent for reprocessing.
The separated materials or recyclate are
essential and valuable raw materials for a variety of industries,
which makes them global commodities.
Visit Viridor for more information on the
sorting processes used. To book a tour of the Materials Recycling
Facility, email recycling@peterborough.gov.uk
or ring 01733 747474.
Glass
The glass bottles and jars that are collected
in your green bin are not colour separated and are broken during
collection. They therefore cannot be made into new
bottles but they are suitable for other applications.
The separated glass, known as cullet is sent
to Viridor’s glass recycling plant in St Helens where it is made
into aggregate which is used to make new roads and car parks. This
avoids the use of new raw materials which would have to be quarried
and processed, saving huge quantities of energy and resources.
See the Viridor
website for more information on glass reprocessing.
Paper
The higher quality paper which consists of
newspapers and pamphlets is exported depending on local and
global supply/demand.
The paper is manufactured back into newsprint
for some of the national and regional papers.
The other mixed papers, which includes card
and other paperfibre materials, are mostly exported to Europe or
the Far East as unfortunately there not enough demand for it in the
UK. The paper is pulped, de-inked and manufactured into various
paper-based products.
Plastic Bottles
Currently we only accept plastic bottles in
the green bin as the MRF is unable to sort other plastic packaging
such as margarine tubs.
The separated bottles may be sent to Viridor’s
plastics recycling plant in Skelmersdale in the North West where
they are cleaned and transformed into flakes or pellets to produce
new food and drink containers as well as pipes and other plastic
products.
As more and more items are made of plastic,
the global demand for recyclate is increasing thus plastic bottles
may be exported to meet demand. They can be made into clothes such
as fleeces as well as plastic packaging.
Cans
These are sent to reprocessors in the UK and
Europe where they are shredded, melted and made into new food and
drink cans.
Cardboard
Once separated, the cardboard is sent to
Smurfit Kappa Recycling in Snodland, Kent. At the mill, it is
pulped and blended with additional pulp from wood chip for strength
and made into new cardboard boxes for packaging products for
transport.
As with the other recyclable materials, local
and global demand and supply for cardboard may change, resulting in
this being sent to other reprocessing plants in the UK or
abroad.
See Smufit Kappa for more
information on the recycling process.
Textiles
Any old clothes and footwear that you take to
the bring banks throughout the city are collected by
Wilcox. 
These are sorted near Birmingham, into
different grades and types, those of good quality are reused and
the rest are sent for rags or recycling.
Batteries and energy saving lightbulbs
In March 6 banks were put in place to collect
batteries and energy saving lightbulbs for recycling. It is
important these items are not put in the rubbish as they contain
toxic chemicals such as lead and mercury and need to be disposed of
carefully.
Electrical items
There are 5 banks around the city for small
electrical items. These are collected and taken to the WEEE Reuse
facility in Fengate where they are sorted. Items in good
working order are sold to low income families and broken or poor
quality items are sent for recycling.
For videos and more information about recycling visit
Recycle
Now.