Pages in What happens to your recycling
- 1. You are here: What happens to your recycling
- 2. What happens to your food recycling
- 3. What happens to your paper and card recycling
- 4. What happens to your mixed recycling
- 5. What happens to your garden waste
Getting rid of our unwanted waste responsibly can make a big difference to the planet, as well as save money that can be spent on essential services.
Processing your recycling locally into valuable new products helps to preserve the earth’s natural resources. We currently process more than 98% of the borough's recyclable waste in the UK.
On these pages is a summary of where your recycling ends up after we have collected it from your house or from one of our recycling centres.
In 2020/21 we collected:
- more than 56,000 tonnes of waste from the borough's homes and streets
- 15% more paper and card, food and mixed recycling than the previous year, due to the pandemic..
We reached a recycling rate of just over 53% but calculate that more than 80% of our waste could be recycled.
Making sure we recycle right is a quick and easy way to recycle more and make a big different for the environment.
Textiles and shoes
Items are reused wherever possible, including removing buttons and zips were appropriate. The fibres from remaining materials are recycled into things like rags, car parts or insulation.
Although the contractor that manages our textile recycling, Soex UK, is based in Redhill, materials are processed in Germany.