Rubbish
Your waste is collected under a contract with Serco. This contract started in April 2012 and has been extended to continue until March 2024.
After the rubbish is collected
After rubbish is collected from your home it is taken to one of the Western Riverside Waste Authority's two waste transfer stations in Smugglers Way, Wandsworth and Cringle Street, Battersea where it is bulked and loaded onto barges.
Disposal
It is then taken to an energy-from-waste incinerator at Belvedere in the London borough of Bexley. This uses the heat from burning Wandsworth's residual rubbish to generate enough electricity for the National Grid to power around 17,000 homes.
Until March 2011, Wandsworth's rubbish was disposed of in a landfill site in Mucking, Essex. Read how this site has now been transformed into the Thurrock Thameside Nature Park.
What happens to the incinerated metals, ashes and aggregates
Around 14,000 tonnes of ashes and aggregates, plus 1,500 tonnes of metals are extracted from Wandsworth's incinerated residual waste every year. Recycling of materials from incinerated waste is not included in standard calculations for the percentage of household waste recycled by local authorities but if counted, this would add over 15% to Wandsworth's recycling rate.
Every tonne of waste in produces around 30kg of "fly ash" in the process of cleaning the chimney gases. As this is more toxic it is harder to recycle and some (around 50%) is disposed of in disused mine shafts in Cheshire
Recycling
Materials Reclamation Facility
Read about how recycling is sorted and what happens to all the materials after that, or watch the video.
To arrange a visit, contact the Western Riverside Waste Authority.
Christmas trees
Christmas trees we collect are delivered to Smugglers Way in Wandsworth where they get mixed with other compostable waste such as leaves from local parks. Bulk loads are then taken for composting at a facility in East London.
Find out more
- Recycle Now for recycling facts and figures.
- Recycle Western Riverside for more information on how and what to recycle, and what happens to your rubbish and recycling.
- Waste related policies, leaflets and information.