What happens to your rubbish?Recycled rubbish

Aluminium cans can be recycled and back in the shops as fresh cans in six weeks

Did you know your recycled glass jars are used in road surfacing projects, or that discarded plastic bottles can be recycled into material for a fleece jacket?

According to Directgov, people in the UK are recycling three times more rubbish than they were in the mid nineties - but an average family can still double or even treble the amount they recycle.

Read on to discover what happens to common household items after they've been placed in a recycling bin.

Recycled cans and aerosols

Steel and aluminium cans and aerosols donated for recycling are sorted using a magnet and compressed into bales for reprocessing.

They're melted into blocks called ingots, which are then rolled into sheets. Aluminium is usually sold back to can makers, while recycled steel can find its way into everything from fresh tins and car parts to fridges and even bridges.

Did you know?

Glass can be recycled over and over again

It can take just six weeks for an aluminium can to be recycled and arrive back in shops as a fresh can.

Recycled glass bottles and jars

Glass donated for recycling is crushed and each colour melted in a separate furnace before being moulded into new glass bottles and jars.

Recycling glass uses less energy and resources than creating virgin glass from scratch – and it can also be recycled over and over again.

Did you know?

As well as creating new bottles and jars, glass is used to create fibre-glass insulation and in road surfacing projects as a material known as called 'glasphalt.'

Recycled paper

Newspapers can be recycled and turned into new ones in a week

Much of the UK’s recycled paper is made into newsprint for newspapers.

Paper is pulped at a paper mill and inks, staples and other contaminates are washed out of the paper with soapy water. Pulped paper is injected between wire meshes to make it paper thin, before being dried. It’s then rolled into large reels, each weighing more than 30 tonnes.

Did you know?

Newspapers and other paper can be recycled into fresh newsprint and arrive back at newsagents in as little as seven days.

Recycled plastic bottles

Recycled plastic bottles could end up as bollards or even fleece jackets

There are more than 50 different types of plastics and all must be separated for recycling. 

During the recycling process plastic is broken down into flakes, cleaned and then melted down and moulded back into plastic shapes.

Did you know?

Recycled plastic bottles are made into items as diverse as bollards, recycling boxes, drainage pipes and fleece jackets.

Recycling food waste

Food waste is transported to large-scale food processing plants where it’s heated and sterilized to remove bacteria, then composted.

It takes around three months of conventional outdoor composting to create compost ready to be used as soil conditioner.

Did you know?

Someone else could benefit from your unwanted clothes

In many areas, compost created in this way is spread on crops which go on to be used in the production of sustainable bio-fuels.

Recycled clothes and shoes

Reusable clothes and shoes collected at recycling centres are sorted and either sent abroad for sale, where there’s a strong market for second hand clothes, or donated to UK charity shops.

Did you know? 

Unusable clothes and other textiles are recycled into a variety of products including wiper rags and filling for car dashboards and furniture.

Find out more about how to recycle different types of rubbish in the Which? Recycling guide.