Where Does My Blue Wheelie Bin Recycling Go?

Lib Dem councillor Athena Zissimos finds out the answer

Councillor Athena Zissimos and with a council refuse collector

June 14, 2023

Have you ever wondered what happens to the recycling you have diligently put out into your blue wheelie bin? As Vice-chair of the Scrutiny Panel that was looking into recycling in the borough, I got to find out.

As a Liberal Democrat Councillor, I am passionate in the Council recycling as much as they can. At the moment, the recycling rate has not improved over the past four or five years, so it was useful to see how this works once the vans have collected some of our waste.

Members of the panel and Council Officers were taken out to Crayford near Dartford to visit the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where Ealing's recycling goes, to be shown the process. 

We donned steel-tipped boots, bright yellow jackets, helmets fitted out with radio communications and in small groups we went on a tour of the facility. The Materials Recovery Facility is a noisy, smelly place, not unbearably smelly, but smelly nevertheless.

The facility is criss-crossed by the waste disposal trucks we all know, there are lights and designated crossings, much care is taken to cross from one part of the facility to another. Health and safety were taken very seriously.

Huge belts transfer the recycling along differing paths, separating out the glass, then taking all the rest into a million-pound holey drum that spins what is left, the paper and card floats to the top, everything else drops to the bottom and disappears into more conveyor belts, between staff who have the arduous task of picking off items not recyclable, or too big for the belt.

Magnets pick off aluminium, leaving plastics, which with the use of infra-reds are also separated out into differing types of plastics. High above on walkways you can look down at huge containers of sorted plastics, plastic milk containers separated out and aluminium cans sorted. Once sorted the recycled material is packed into giant haystacks ready to be picked up by the paper recycling company, the aluminium recycling company and so on.

It all works with very little going to the wrong place, which will be dealt with at the differing recycling plants. Amazing.

The good news is that the sorting is getting more sophisticated, AI will shortly be replacing the human element and is already doing so in newer facilities.

Ealing has a recycling rate of just 48%, but over 10% of the recycling trucks that arrive on site each month have their load rejected because the contamination level is deemed unacceptable. The whole load is rejected and sent to landfill. The biggest contaminant is food, black bags, nappies, textiles and WEEE (Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment). So yes, it is important that you recycle properly, rinse out food containers, food belongs in your food waste bin, black bags belong in your black wheelie bin.

Textiles can be collected separately by the Council or consider giving the clothes a second life by donating them to a charity shop. 'Wish recycling' does not work, and worse still may contribute to a whole load being rejected.

On a final note, I asked the question, does the pizza box go in or out of the blue recycling bin? The answer is, if there are grease stains, a bit of sticky cheese, then yes you can!

If however, there are crusts and pizza left inside the box then no, put those in your green food waste bin and then put the box in the recycling bin.

Ending, I would say that Liberal Democrat Councillors want to see the Council be more proactive, recycle more items and put more effort into getting more people to use the food waste collection bins or to take up composting. This will help increase the recycling rate.

Councillor Athena Zissimos

Liberal Democrat Opposition spokesperson for the Environment