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

Peacehaven Wild Kids said:

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

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Tom Hark Preston Park said:

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

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Westdene Seagull said:

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

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Westdene Seagull said:

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

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bluenitsuj said:

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.

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Wrong-Direction said:

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..

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Mustafa II said:

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.

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Bodian said:

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.

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Westdene Seagull said:

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.

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Westdene Seagull said:

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.

Click to expand...

Westdene Seagull said:

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

Click to expand...

Wealden District Council

Wealden District Council

www.wealden.gov.uk

Westdene Seagull said:

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.

Click to expand...

Wrong-Direction said:

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..

Click to expand...