What Happens to my Waste and Recycling?
Once your recycling is collected it is taken to a materials recovery facility local to Dumfries and Galloway or within Scotland to be sorted and separated into different types of materials before being baled. Items are then sent on to reprocessors in the UK and Europe for recycling.
Paper, Card and Cardboard
Paper, card and cardboard is collected from the kerbside in blue-lidded bins and sacks. It is baled into large bundles and sent for recycling into newspapers and packaging.
Plastics, Metals and Cartons
Plastics, metals and cartons are collected from the kerbside in red-lidded bins and sacks. These are sorted into different material types using a range of recycling equipment, before being baled into bundles and sent for recycling into new products, including plastic bottles, cans, garden furniture and even clothing.
Glass Bottles and Jars
Glass bottles and jars are collected from Recycling Points and Household Waste Recycling Centres. These are sorted into different colours using infra-red technology, before being crushed and sent for recycling into new glass bottles and jars.
Non-recyclable Waste
Non-recyclable waste is collected from the kerbside where it is sent to the Ecodeco Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) facility on the outskirts of Dumfries. Here waste is shredded and dried by heat produced naturally as a result of biological activity. This drying process recovers around 30% of the weight of the waste as moisture which is passed through a biofilter to atmosphere and returned to the natural water cycle.
The principal output of the facility is a fuel used in specialist Energy from Waste (EfW) plants. Other outputs include glass and stone which are turned into an aggregate replacement product, and metal which is recovered, cleaned and recycled.
