What happens to my waste

Recyclable waste from your blue-bin is taken to Sherbourne Recycling in Coventry. 

Sherbourne Recycling creates high-quality recycling, where the materials are processed and sold within the UK, rather than being send overseas.

How is my recycling sorted?

All the recycling from your blue-lid bin arrives mixed together. It then travels through a series of machines that separate the different materials.
The equipment uses:

• screens to separate items by size and shape
• magnets to pick out steel
• optical scanners that identify plastic and paper
• air to separate lighter materials
• AI image recognition

Once the materials have been separated, Sherbourne collects them and they are sent to companies that can recycle them into new products.

By ensuring that your recycling is clean, it can be sorted easily, giving materials a better chance of being recycled.

Check what goes in your blue-lidded bin

Food waste from your caddy is taken to Severn Trent's food-waste facility at Coleshill, where it is treated using anaerobic digestion.

Bacteria breaks down the food inside sealed tanks. As the food breaks down, it produces methane gas, which is used to make renewable energy.

The process also produces a nutrient-rich material called digestate, which can be used as fertiliser on farmland.

Check what goes in your caddy

Garden waste from your green bin is taken to an open-air composting site, using a process called open window composting.

Grass cuttings, leaves, plants and other garden waste are placed into  piles. The waste is turned regularly to help it break down. Over time, the garden waste becomes compost. 

Because this is an open-air process, food waste must not go in your garden-waste bin. Food waste has a different treatment process to make sure it is handled safely.

Learn more about the garden-waste collection service

Most waste in your black bin is sent to the Energy from Waste facility in Coventry and is burned at a high temperature. The heat produced is used to generate electricity and heat.

This means we can recover some value from rubbish that cannot be reused or recycled.

However, energy recovery is not the same as recycling. Once those materials have been burned, they cannot be used again. Around 10–15% of Rugby's rubbish still goes to landfill. That is why reducing waste, reusing items and recycling are much better for the environment. 

Check what goes in your black bin