Accessibility Skip to main content

Where does my recycling go?

Find out what happens to your recycling once it gets to the depot in Paignton.

Some waste and recycling collections are currently behind schedule. 

  • If your collection is less than 24 hours late, please leave your bins out.
  • If it’s over 48 hours late, please report it to SWISCo 

So your recycling lands in the depot at Paignton, but then what happens? 

It's a question that we get asked a lot, so here is a breakdown of what happens to Torbay's recycling and where in the UK it goes to be recycled.

Aluminium Cans - Warrington, Cheshire
Cans are melted down and used to make new cans.

Batteries - Lutterworth, Leicestershire
Broken down and toxic heavy metal recovered for reprocessing.

Cardboard - Caerphilly, Wales
Recycled into new cardboard packaging.

Cartons (Tetra Pak) - Caerphilly, Wales
Recycled into new cardboard packaging.

Cooking Oil - Newton Abbot
Refined and reprocessed into biodiesel fuels.

Food Waste - Holsworthy, Devon
Anaerobic digestion, producing biogas which is used to generate power, provide heat and produce compost.

Glass - Kirby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire
Recycled into glass bottles and jars.

Green Waste - Paignton
Composted and then used instead of chemical fertiliser in agriculture.

Metal - Wokingham, Berkshire
Broken down into component parts and metals and plastics re-used.

Paper - Kings Lynn, Norfolk
Recycled into paper for newspapers and for energy production.

Plastic - Manchester
Recycled into new plastic food packaging.

Tyres - Castle Cary, Somerset
Shredded, granulated and remade into soft surfaces for play areas and horse training areas.

Wood - Winkleigh, Devon
Shredded and reprocessed for use in board manufacturing and animal bedding.

This page was last updated over three months ago

Was this page helpful?

Let us know how we're doing using the form below. We're constantly trying to improve this website and your feedback is very important to us.

Use this form only for comments about this webpage to let us know how we’re doing. For general enquiries, please choose the relevant service area from the menu below.

We will only use this email address to respond to any issues raised in this feedback.