Blue Container Recycling
On
recycle day your mixed recycling (Glass, tins, mixed plastics etc.)
is taken directly to the rear of the freighter where it is lifted
into the left pod.
Once the contents of your blue container have been collected
(cans, glass, aerosols, cartons and mixed plastics ) it is
taken to a bulking facility where the contents are tipped into a
large container. When these containers are full they are
transported to a ‘MRF’ materials recovery facility just outside
Kent, where it’s tipped into a large pile before sorting.
The mix is loaded by a JCB onto a conveyor,
where it first goes through a large meshed rotating drum, called a
‘trommel’ – like a giant washing machine drum. The glass in
the mix (compacted and broken up on collection) falls through the
holes in the drum and is collected.
It spills onto a conveyor where a
magnet lifts all metal tins from the belt, a weak
electrical charge (known as an eddy current) is sent through the
remaining waste. Aluminium cans are momentarily charged to
make them magnetic for an instant, which enables them to be
removed.
This leaves mixed plastics, cartons and
any contaminants on the conveyor. As the waste travels
along the belt a laser identifies the waste, it also knows its
position on the belt. When the item reaches the
appropriate skip it is blown off for bulking up. Even the
bottle tops are recycled. A team of people remove any
contaminants by hand and they are disposed of to
landfill.
The plastics are then taken onto a processing facility nearby
where they are treated further. They are put through a
trommel, which spins them and shakes off the dirt. A beam of
light is shone through the bottles to determine whether they are
HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) or PET (Polyethylene
Terephthalate). The bottles are further sorted manually
and then ground into flakes. The flakes are washed in hot
water and then various flake sorters are used to remove coloured
flakes and remaining contaminants. The PET is treated further
to remove the top layer of the bottle and the HDPE is melted,
sieved and turned into plastic pellets.
- The pellets are returned to the moulding machine to be turned
back into plastic bottles closing the recycling loop.
- Collected glass is melted down into brown glass.
- Tins and Aluminium are taken to a foundary to be turned into
blocks
- Cartons are turned into brown board.
Contact
Dover District Council Wasteline:
01304 872428
Email: waste@dover.gov.uk
