Recycling Facts

There is a global problem with the amount of waste produced and the world is running out space to dispose of it. Landfills and incineration contaminate the environment. The millions of tonnes of material that is processed in recycling plants in the UK have an impact not only here, but also abroad.

In the UK all newsprint is manufactured solely from recycled paper, 100 percent of wood is reprocessed and over 80 percent of glass collected is recycled into new jars and bottles. Countries that have a manufacturing industry without sources of raw materials, such as China, pay well for recyclables like plastic, and 67 percent of the UK’s waste plastic is reprocessed abroad. It costs industry far less to recover raw materials from waste than the original manufacturing process, and it requires less energy use. There are savings in transport costs, as containers filled with waste can return with goods.