[Misc] Anyone here work/ed in the household recycling industry?

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

I’m having a guilt moment (Google isn’t my friend here)
Packing down all my cardboard in my household bin I heard a beer bottle smash at the bottom, I’m not fishing it out.
We’re told not to put broken glass in there, but Shirley as it’s tipped in the waggon some of its gonna break. Who/what sorts all this shit out when it gets to the depot?

Oh, you’re doing a great job BTW

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I’m having a guilt moment (Google isn’t my friend here)
Packing down all my cardboard in my household bin I heard a beer bottle smash at the bottom, I’m not fishing it out.
We’re told not to put broken glass in there, but Shirley as it’s tipped in the waggon some of its gonna break. Who/what sorts all this shit out when it gets to the depot?

Oh, you’re doing a great job BTW

That's some damn heavy cardboard you're putting in there that can smash a beer bottle

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I was on the residents consultancy group with Cityclean a few years back.

Assuming Peacehaven is covered by B&H council then the following happens :

> It's all transported to Hollingdean
> Household rubbish from our green bins is packaged up and sent to Newhaven for burning
> Glass from the black boxes is in a seperate section of the dustcart and sold for recyling - doesn't matter if it's whole or broken
> Recycling from the grey bin is put into huge machines after a visual inspection to check it's not overly contaminated with glass. Loads that are overly contaminated are sent for burning
> Cardboard, metals etc are extracted by the machines, packaged up and sold
> What the machines can't sort it put on a conveyor belt and sorted by hand - plastic bags are a particular issue

So your one bottle should be fine unless it's been mixed with other contaminatec loads. In which case the whole load will be sent for burning

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

@Westdene Seagull here’s the problem, it’s Lewes DC and everything goes in the same bin/back of truck.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

That's some damn heavy cardboard you're putting in there that can smash a beer bottle

It was the huge concrete block I was using to pack it down!

 

[Official Old Man]

Is there any money to be made in cardboard?
I have a small van load every week and have to pay someone to take it away.
I see there is a recyling company in Brighton for cardboard but they charge as well.

 

[Bald Head]

I was on the residents consultancy group with Cityclean a few years back.

Assuming Peacehaven is covered by B&H council then the following happens :

> It's all transported to Hollingdean
> Household rubbish from our green bins is packaged up and sent to Newhaven for burning
> Glass from the black boxes is in a seperate section of the dustcart and sold for recyling - doesn't matter if it's whole or broken
> Recycling from the grey bin is put into huge machines after a visual inspection to check it's not overly contaminated with glass. Loads that are overly contaminated are sent for burning
> Cardboard, metals etc are extracted by the machines, packaged up and sold
> What the machines can't sort it put on a conveyor belt and sorted by hand - plastic bags are a particular issue

So your one bottle should be fine unless it's been mixed with other contaminatec loads. In which case the whole load will be sent for burning

Having worked there for ten years, i can say you are absolutely correct.

 

[Bodian]

I was on the residents consultancy group with Cityclean a few years back.

Assuming Peacehaven is covered by B&H council then the following happens :

> It's all transported to Hollingdean
> Household rubbish from our green bins is packaged up and sent to Newhaven for burning
> Glass from the black boxes is in a seperate section of the dustcart and sold for recyling - doesn't matter if it's whole or broken
> Recycling from the grey bin is put into huge machines after a visual inspection to check it's not overly contaminated with glass. Loads that are overly contaminated are sent for burning
> Cardboard, metals etc are extracted by the machines, packaged up and sold
> What the machines can't sort it put on a conveyor belt and sorted by hand - plastic bags are a particular issue

So your one bottle should be fine unless it's been mixed with other contaminatec loads. In which case the whole load will be sent for burning

These bits must be hard work. Our recycling van has separate compartments for glass / plastic / paper / card - so we have a bin for each.

The neighbouring council has 'co-mingling' - where the only thing kept separately is glass. How does a machine extract card and plastic from paper and what not? Tin/metals I can understand - but how does a machine recognise the difference between my thin cornflakes box and a magazine cover.

 

[bluenitsuj]

Don't worry about it.
All general waste and recycling is mixed in the same truck in our area despite us sorting into different wheelie bins.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Don't worry about it.
All general waste and recycling is mixed in the same truck in our area despite us sorting into different wheelie bins.

Our green bin has cardboard, paper, plastic, glass, tin & aluminium cans all mixed together, so guessing the same happens, as would be impossible to sort.

 

[Wrong-Direction]

I used to be militant with recycling, often taking things out the bin the misses has mistakenly chucked! One day I thought what the f*** am I doing, it doesn't make a blind bit of difference, we've already f***ed the planet. I still do it but only when convenient, it's liberating not caring as much..

 

[Mustafa II]

I used to be militant with recycling, often taking things out the bin the misses has mistakenly chucked! One day I thought what the f*** am I doing, it doesn't make a blind bit of difference, we've already f***ed the planet. I still do it but only when convenient, it's liberating not caring as much..

That's a terrible attitude to have, and collective attitudes like these heavily contributes to why the planet is f***ed.

Just do your best. If everyone did their best, then the planet would be considerably cleaner and less f***ed than it is.

 

[PascalGroß Tips]

That's a terrible attitude to have, and collective attitudes like these heavily contributes to why the planet is f***ed.

Just do your best. If everyone did their best, then the planet would be considerably cleaner and less f***ed than it is.

I agree

In Adur, we have the one bin for all our recycling - collected fortnightly (alternating with general refuse bin).

We have a large recycling bin - which we virtually fill during the two weeks with paper, cardboard, glass bottles/jars, tin cans, plastic bottles/yoghurt pots etc, clean foil etc.

Our general refuse bin is smaller - but we generally only half fill it over the two weeks (3 and a half people in our household). Interestingly, we've noticed recently that virtually all our neighbours and others in our road have had a sticker put on their general refuse bin telling them they need to look more carefully at what they put in it (they always have a look in the bin before emptying it and I guess they're spotting items that should have been recycled). No sticker on our bin, I'm pleased to say.

I also keep other items like batteries, hard plastics that can't go into the recycling bin, small electrical items/wires and lots of other bits that I then take to Shoreham tip to sort/recycle every few months or so.

It really doesn't take much effort to make a difference.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

These bits must be hard work. Our recycling van has separate compartments for glass / plastic / paper / card - so we have a bin for each.

The neighbouring council has 'co-mingling' - where the only thing kept separately is glass. How does a machine extract card and plastic from paper and what not? Tin/metals I can understand - but how does a machine recognise the difference between my thin cornflakes box and a magazine cover.

They have a number of huge drums that sort it. They spin round and air blows in. Paper is lighter than cardboard so goes to the top of the drum and is removed automatically. That leaves generally only carboard ( with maybe a little paper contamination that is acceptable ) which is then bundled up and sent for recycling.

You used to be able to book a tour of the Hollingdean depot via the Cityclean website but not sure if you still can.

 

[Bodian]

They have a number of huge drums that sort it. They spin round and air blows in. Paper is lighter than cardboard so goes to the top of the drum and is removed automatically. That leaves generally only carboard ( with maybe a little paper contamination that is acceptable ) which is then bundled up and sent for recycling.

You used to be able to book a tour of the Hollingdean depot via the Cityclean website but not sure if you still can.

Fascinating - thanks.

 

[Rdodge30]

I do not believe that “mixed recycling is efficient at all. I would like to know the tonnage of recycling that ends up being treated as general waste at the recycling plants because it is unsortable… both as an actual weight and a percentage of recycling collected.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

They have a number of huge drums that sort it. They spin round and air blows in. Paper is lighter than cardboard so goes to the top of the drum and is removed automatically. That leaves generally only carboard ( with maybe a little paper contamination that is acceptable ) which is then bundled up and sent for recycling.

Ah yes, this is the sort of answer I was looking for, thanks

 

[Papak]

You used to be able to book a tour of the Hollingdean depot via the Cityclean website but not sure if you still can.

Wealden District Council

Wealden District Council

www.wealden.gov.uk

Possibly for schools only based on the text in the link.

 

[Bodian]

They have a number of huge drums that sort it. They spin round and air blows in. Paper is lighter than cardboard so goes to the top of the drum and is removed automatically. That leaves generally only carboard ( with maybe a little paper contamination that is acceptable ) which is then bundled up and sent for recycling.

What happens to the plastic bottles and lids and lightweight punnets? Do they fall with the cardboard or rise with the paper?

 

[GingerBeerMan]

I used to be militant with recycling, often taking things out the bin the misses has mistakenly chucked! One day I thought what the f*** am I doing, it doesn't make a blind bit of difference, we've already f***ed the planet. I still do it but only when convenient, it's liberating not caring as much..

Actually I would write a word for word reply the same as this. As bad as it sounds, my mental health is suffering from anxiety over the planet being f***ed. Really, on the individual level we have an inconsequential difference, it's better for me to care much less and actually have a peaceful state of mind than obsess over which goes where. That being said, I still recycle stuff I know is reused like cans and glass bottles.