What Happens To Our Waste When We Throw It Away?

After throwing your rubbish into the bin and having it collected we don’t tend to give much thought to what happens to it. Recycling has improved dramatically over the years and with our consumption of plastic packaging increasing all the time it is as important as ever that we reduce the amount of our waste that makes it to landfill.

At home we sort our waste into separate categories, these are generally plastics, metals and glass in one bin; paper and cardboard in another and garden waste also has its own separate bin. By sorting all these at home we should be left with a household waste that contains mostly food and non-recyclables, thus minimizing the amount that ends up at landfill.

So what happens to our rubbish once it’s taken away? Well, most waste goes on quite a journey after it’s thrown into the nearest bin; later returning to our homes as recycled products. From the roadside our rubbish is collected by teams of local refuse collectors and taken to recycling plants across the country.

These recycling plants, or MRF stations contain the machinery necessary to organise the rubbish into distinct categories. Making use of Picking Stations and Trommel screens, waste can be separated and sent to its corresponding destination.

Garden and some food wastes can be sent to composting stations where it can be used by farmers to help with the growing of crops, or even sold as bagged compost in supermarkets and garden centres.
Some waste can be used in the production of energy. Waste-to-Energy plants make use of combustible materials to produce electricity that powers homes.

Plastics, metals, E-waste, glass and paper will be organised at recycling centres where they are turned back into raw materials and sent to their corresponding facility. When they arrive at these Manufacturing Facilities the raw materials will be used to create everyday products; plastic bottles, newspapers, tin cans etc.

From there the finished products will be sent to stores across the country to be purchased once again by customers and find their way back into our homes.

This process is much more economical and eco-friendly than producing new materials each time. Material processing equipment helps us re-use a large amount of materials that would otherwise end up at landfill, and with taxes on landfill increasing, recycling will soon be the cheaper option for most people.