Once collected by Rutland County Council, aluminium cans are shredded and any coloured coating removed. The shreds are melted down in giant furnaces and the molten metal is
poured into ingot casts and chilled to set

Aluminium cans are recycled and made into new cans – we’re producing more cans than ever, so it makes sense to keep the loop closed. A used can takes only 6-8 weeks to be recycled
and appear back on the shelves!

Aluminium foil on the other hand is recovered differently, and when recycled most of it is used to make cast components for cars – like cylinder heads and engine blocks.

Most local authorities, including Rutland County Council, include the collection of plastic bottles in their kerbside collection.

Currently most plastic recycling in the UK is of 'process scrap' from industry, ie. polymers left over from the production of plastics.

This is relatively simple and economical to recycle, as there is a regular and reliable source, and the material is relatively uncontaminated.

Proces scrap represents some 250,000 tonnes of the plastic waste arisings in the UK, and approximately 95% of this is recycled. This is usually described as reprocessing rather than recycling.

There is a wide range of products made from recycled plastic including:

* polyethylene bin liners and carrier bags
* plastic bottles
* flooring and window frames
* building insulation board
* video and compact disc cassette cases
* fencing and garden furniture
* water butts, garden sheds and composters
* seed trays
* fleeces
* fibre filling for sleeping bags and duvets
* office accessories

Millions of tonnes of garden waste, including grass cuttings, prunings and leaves, are sent to UK landfill
sites every year. All this can be recycled into compost, which helps make gardens even greener.

There are two ways of looking at how to recycle garden waste: when it’s collected from your kerbside,
and when it stays in your garden.

* Collections
Garden waste that’s collected is transported to municipal composting sites. Once there, it takes around
3-4 months to convert your garden waste into pure, neat recycled compost.

* Recycling in your garden
If you’re a regular gardener, whether you grow flowers, shrubs or vegetables, there’s really no need for
your garden waste to leave your garden.

Fallen dead leaves can be made into a nutritious leaf mould – pack them into bin bags, tie it up and
perforate the sides, or put them in a bin made from chicken wire. Then leave for a year or two, before spreading on your shrubs and vegetables as mulch, or, for older leaf mould, as potting compost.

Grass can be piled up in a heap to rot down – if it’s in a sunny place, you can even plant squash
seeds on it. Or, you can simply add smaller quantities direct to your compost bin.

Bracken can be broken up and go straight into your compost bin.

Find out more about discounted garden composters from Rutland County Council.

Once paper and carboard is collected by Rutland County Council, it is sorted, graded and delivered to a paper mill.

Having reached the paper mill it is then ‘slushed’ into pulp and large contaminants removed. It is screened, cleaned and de-inked through a number of processes until it is suitable for papermaking. It is then ready to be made into paper.

Recovered paper can be made into all sorts of new products including newspapers, magazines, printing paper, cardboard and even toilet rolls! But did you know some of it is also used for loft insulation, paints and even roads!

Domestic waste glass (known as 'cullet') is easy to recycle. When it is used to make new bottles or jars:

* Cullet is emptied from bottle banks or kerbside collections systems and taken away to be reprocessed

* Larger contaminants are removed by hand

* It’s then crushed and goes through further contaminant removal processes
(mechanised colour sorting is usually undertaken at this stage when needed)

* It’s now mixed with the raw materials and melted in a furnace

* The melted material is moulded or blown into new bottles or jars

Although glass is easy to recycle, there is currently some imbalance in the supply of
glass to recycle compared to demand for recycled glass.

* Clear Glass
A major barrier to recycling glass in the UK is the shortage of clear cullet available for recycling. We produce plenty of clear glass, but export a lot of it as spirit bottles. And we just don’t put enough clear glass in recycling banks.

* Green Glass
By comparison, we import a large amount of green glass but do manage to recycle it – so the green bottles we make in the UK contain at least 85% recycled green glass.

The surplus is either exported to make new green bottles or is used in alternative markets within the UK, such as in fibreglass insulation or brick manufacture or as filtration media in effluent treatment works.

* New bottles and jars
‘Processed sand’ – finely ground glass for golf bunkers
‘Glassphalt’ for road surfacing – around 14 million bottles were crushed and used to resurface the M6 motorway!