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TwitterWhat happens to your recycling after it leaves your green bin?
Sonja Woodcock, our Sustainable Food Partnership Coordinator recently visited the Leeds Materials Recycling Facility (MRF)— which is the place where all our green bins get sorted. The visit was organised by community composting champion Annie Whitehead, and it offered a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how our city manages its recycling. It was also pause to reflect on how much waste we produce and why reducing and reusing are more important than ever. Hear about the visit form Sonja’s perspective.
A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Recycling
When our mixed recycling arrives at the MRF, it first passes through a giant trommel, a huge rotating drum that separates out larger pieces of plastic and glass. From there, the materials travel across a series of conveyor belts, where teams of skilled workers sort through them by hand. Across three shifts, around 30 pickers per shift carefully separate aluminium from tin, plastic films from bottles, and cardboard from other packaging. Once sorted, these materials are baled and sent to specialist facilities for recycling — most of them right here in the UK.
The Bigger Picture: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
While the MRF’s work is incredibly impressive, one message stood out clearly: we can’t recycle our way out of overconsumption. The facility is doing an amazing job managing our waste, but the volume itself is unsustainable. Much of what’s recycled is packaging from processed food and drink — items we could often reduce or avoid entirely. If we focus more on the first two steps of the waste hierarchy — Reduce and Reuse — we’ll not only ease pressure on recycling facilities but also benefit our own health and wellbeing.
“Watching this process in action was fascinating. However, the sheer volume of recyclable material is staggering — a sobering reminder of just how much waste our city produces.”
Leeds’ Long History of Recycling
We were also treated to a short talk from Henry Irving, who shared the history of recycling in Leeds dating back to World War II. It turns out Leeds has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to recycling and resource recovery — something I hadn’t really thought about before. You can read more about this in this article: The Secret Library
Top Tips from the MRF Team
If you’re wondering how to recycle more effectively at home, here are a few simple but important tips from the experts at the MRF:
- Rinse your plastics to avoid contamination — this really matters.
- Flatten plastic bottles and put the lid back on — it saves space and helps the sorting machines.
- No batteries in the green bin — they’re a major fire hazard.
- Only put recyclable materials in your green bin — when in doubt, check before you chuck it.
“It’s incredible to see the hard work that goes into sorting and recycling what we so casually toss into our bins — and it’s a powerful reminder that the best way to manage waste is to create less of it in the first place.”
