Where does your waste and recycling go?

After collection, your recycling is sorted at our Padworth Materials Recovery Facility, operated by Veolia, before being sent for recycling in the UK.

Find out how Veolia recycle different materials below.

Plastic bottles, tins/cans and aerosols

After we collect your recycling, it all comes to our facility at Padworth in West Berkshire, which is managed and operated by our contractors Veolia.

The plastic bottles, cans and aerosols are separated and then further sorted into different grades and bailed ready for transport to reprocessors where they are turned into new products such as new milk bottles and drink cans.

Paper and card

After we collect your paper and card, it all comes to our facility at Padworth in West Berkshire, which is managed and operated by our contractors Veolia.

It is bulked at the transfer station, ready to be transported to paper mills where it is turned into more paper and card.

Textiles 

Textiles are sent to a huge warehouse in the UK to be hand-sorted. Items are sorted into different qualities of clothing and textiles to ensure best reuse when distributing worldwide.

Glass 

After we collect your glass, it all comes to our facility at Padworth in West Berkshire, which is managed and operated by our contractors Veolia.

It all goes to smelters in London where it is melted down and used to make new bottles, jars and aggregate. 

Food and garden waste 

After we collect your food and garden waste, it all comes to our in-vessel compost facility at Padworth in West Berkshire, which is managed and operated by our contractors Veolia.

There it is turned into PAS 100 certified soil conditioner for use by local farmers and landscapers.

To find out more watch our video. 

General waste

Any rubbish you put in your black bin goes straight to landfill or Energy from Waste. Currently 14% goes to landfill with the remaining 86% going to Energy from Waste. Please make sure you recycle and reduce your waste as much as you can.

Your recycling efforts are helping to fight climate change by preserving valuable resources and reducing CO2 emissions. 

Our waste and recycling partner Veolia is committed to working with West Berkshire Council to help everyone recycle as much as possible by providing the right recycling services for everyone as well as advice on how to minimise the waste you produce. 

Veolia uses UK outlets for the materials they collect from you where they are available, for example, their own milk bottle reprocessing plant in East London, which turns HDPE recycled bottles into food grade plastic pellets to be used by the dairy industry to make new bottles. However, where overseas processing is required Veolia only exports highly recyclable and valued material that has been segregated by grade, such as sorted aluminium cans. 

Veolia employ, enforce and police a stringent duty of care audit to ensure that material goes to genuine outlets that recycle it into new products. The company's practices meet and exceed the legal requirements for recycling. Veolia's dedicated team audits, visits and rigorously monitors all outlets for recycling commodities to ensure the highest standards are met. They also work closely with the Environment Agency to reduce waste crime, ensuring that every step of the recycling chain is accountable and efficient. This means that when you recycle, it will go to the right place.