Flintshire County Council

What happens to your waste?

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Waste Awareness Wales have produced some short films about what happens Wales-wide to some of the materials we recycle. The videos all have sound.

In Flintshire:

Electronics

Fridges go to EMR Geodis’s plant, in Wolverhampton where they are de-gassed, removing all CFC’s before being stripped for recycling. Large white goods go to Chadwicks in Sandycroft and then onwards to Norton’s who have plants across the UK. Small domestic appliances go to Wincanton in Billingham, where they are dismantled and stripped of metals and plastics. TV’s are stripped for components by Waste Technique in Cardiff, metal and glass are recovered for recycling and the cathode ray tube is processed in controlled atmosphere.

Glass

Is sent to Recresco at Ellesmere Port, sorted into different colours, crushed and melted down then made into new glass bottles and jars (at Quinns bottling factory next door to Recresco). 

Plastic bottles

Are sent for reprocessing to JFC Plastics Ltd in Runcorn and made into various products including road cones, garden furniture, car bumpers and your Blue Box! Carrier bags are recycled at Eurokey.

Cans

Steel cans are melted down by Corus UK and made into sheet metal for reuse. Aluminium cans are melted down into ingots by Novelis in Warrington and sold on to make new cans or parts for machinery etc.

Food waste

Food waste is treated at Biogen Greenfinch (new window) an Anaerobic Digestion facility based in Ludlow, Shropshire. The end-products of soil conditioner and liquid fertilizer are used by local farmers. The resulting Biogas is used to power the anaerobic digestion plant, with any surplus biogas being used to generate electricity for the National Grid. 

Garden waste

This is sent to Windrow open air composting site at Greenfield. The resulting soil conditioner is sent to Rhug Organic Farm in Corwen and tested by the Environment Agency before use on their fields.

Paper

This is taken to Shotton Paper Mill (UPM Kymmene), pulped and made into newsprint.

Cartons

Such as Tetra Packs are collected by Tetrapak and sent to Sweden for recycling.

Cardboard

This is shipped on to various paper merchants around Britain to be pulped and made into new cardboard. Eventually the fibres become too short for making new paper or board and will be used to make egg boxes or similar moulded packaging materials.

Non recyclable waste

E.g. waste collected from your black bin or at recycling parks is taken to the Hafod Landfill in Wrexham as our landfill in Flintshire is now closed.