Statistics and information

Rubbish

After rubbish is collected from your home it is taken to the Western Riverside Waste Authority's waste transfer station in Smugglers Way, Wandsworth where it is weighed and loaded onto barges.  Using barges instead of lorries helps to reduce pollution, congestion and noise nuisance for residents across London.

It is then taken by river to an energy-from-waste incinerator at Belvedere in the London borough of Bexley.  This uses heat to generate electricity which is fed into the National Grid.  It also means that the global warming effects of methane emissions from landfill are avoided. 

The ashes produced contain pieces of glass, rubble, sand, grit and stone.  The material is sorted into different size fractions for use in construction projects such as road building.  Recovery and recycling of metals from the incinerated ashes is expected to add nearly two percent to Wandsworth's recycling rate.  And recycling the ashes themselves will be equivalent to recycling another 13 percent.    

Recycling 

Recycling collected in orange sacks and mixed recycling banks is also delivered to Smugglers Way where it is weighed and sorted in a Materials Reclamation Facility (or MRF).  

To arrange a visit, contact the Western Riverside Waste Authority (email steve@wrwa.gov.uk). The sorted materials are then baled and sold to reprocessing companies that use them to make new recycled products. 

What happens next?

Sorted materials for recycling are made into new products:

• Paper is made into new paper products including newspapers, magazines books and even loft insulation
• Cardboard is usually made into new boxes and packaging, but can also be used as animal bedding or even eco-friendly coffins
• Glass bottles and jars are crushed into a fine sand substitute for use in laying paving stones 
• Plastics are made into products including fleece clothing, underground pipes, new orange sacks, car parts, home composters or garden furniture 
• Aluminium cans become cans again, steel ones can become any new steel product 
• Food and drinks cartons have fibres extracted for making paper
• Other component materials are usually combusted to generate electricity, helping to power the paper mill. 

More information

• Recycle Now for recycling facts and myths.
• Recycle Western Riverside for more information on how to recycle, what to recycle, and what happens to your rubbish and recycling.
• Read frequenty asked questions about rubbish and recycling.
• Waste related downloads