Dry mixed recycling is a key waste collection that allows businesses and households to separate recyclable materials – such as paper, cardboard, plastics, and metals – from general waste. Dry mixed recycling simplifies the process by allowing these items to be collected together in a single stream. 

Have you ever wondered about the journey your recycling goes on? In this blog, we explore what happens after dry mixed recycling is collected: how it’s sorted, processed, and ultimately transformed into new products.  

The Journey

The Origins of Materials:

Before your dry mixed recycling becomes waste, each item is created from valuable natural resources; paper and cardboard from trees, metals mined from the earth, and fossil fuels used to create plastic. Once these materials have served their initial purpose, it’s vital they are managed correctly so they can be recovered, recycled and reused. 

At The Bin:

Before your dry mixed recycling becomes waste, each item is created from valuable natural resources; paper and cardboard from trees, metals mined from the earth, and fossil fuels used to create plastic. Once these materials have served their initial purpose, it’s vital they are managed correctly so they can be recovered, recycled and reused. 

In order to continue the journey past the bin, commercial mixed recycling must be clean, dry and contamination free. Contaminated recycling that is full of non-recyclable or soiled materials can compromise an entire batch, leading to rejection and increased waste. 

Arrival at the MRF:

Once collected, your mixed recycling materials are transported to Recorra’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Purfleet, Essex. Here they are offloaded and to go through an additional nine stages of sorting, including our all-new AI robotic sorting arm which removes contaminants.  

Specialist Sorting Stages

Stage 1: Collection & Bag Opening

Mixed recycling is collected from businesses and brought to the MRF. A mechanical claw separates baled items and feeds them into the bag splitter. Rotating drums with teeth tear open bags, releasing recyclables onto the conveyor belt for sorting. 

Stage 2: Initial Manual Sorting

Trained staff remove large items and obvious contaminants. Each picker focuses on specific materials, acting as the first line of quality control. 

Stage 3: Waste Screening

A vibrating waste screen separates materials by size. Items smaller than 50mm, such as broken glass, dirt, food, and shredded paper, fall through and are removed, while remaining materials continue through the plant for further processing. 

Stage 4: Ballistic Separator

This device – which has an inclined, moving surface – separates items by physical characteristics: 

• 3D materials (e.g. cans and bulky plastics) bounce and roll downward 

• 2D materials (e.g. paper and flat plastics) move upward

Stage 5: Optical Sorting & AI Assistance

Advanced AI-powered optical sorters identify and separate materials using image recognition and jets of air: 

• First sorter: Removes remaining 2D items from the 3D stream. 

• Second sorter: Removes residual film or tissue from 2D items. 

• Third sorter: Separates brown paper from white office paper. 

An AI camera at the start of the conveyor provides real-time material identification to assist sorting. 

Stage 6: Secondary Sorting: Manual and AI Sorting Arm

The remaining materials are subject to a final quality check, with our all-new AI sorting arm and manual sorting staff remove unwanted materials.  

2D items like any remaining paper and cardboard are picked out and join the other fibres in the balers.  

Any remaining 3D items, like plastics, coffee cups or cartons, are removed leaving just the cans on the approach to the eddy current.  

Stage 7: Eddy Current Separator

The Eddy Current Separator has a rotating magnetic field that repels non-ferrous metals (like aluminium cans), efficiently separating them from other materials for high-quality metal recovery.  

Stage 8: Compostables sorting line

Together with our partners, Vegware, we’ve launched the UK’s first compostable sorting line at our MRF. This infrastructure helps eliminate contamination and enables us to expand our compostable packaging services. 

Stage 9: Baling

After being separated by type, the recyclables are compacted into bales and prepared for shipment to specialist re processors, where they’ll be transformed into new products, giving valuable resources a second life. 

The result is a consolidated collection of each type of mixed recycling, sourced from multiple commercial collections. 

Next, your dry mixed recyclables are transported to our processing partners, who further break down each material. Always climate-conscious, Recorra minimise the carbon footprint of your recycling by keeping it local, with 98% of our partners based in the UK and the remaining 2% in Northern Europe. We only work with partners who share our values, use cutting-edge innovations to ensure both exceptional recycling quality and remain dedicated to protecting the planet through real recycling. Find out more in our ‘Where does my recycling go?’ leaflet.  

Once processed, your mixed recycling is now ready to be transformed into all new items!  

What Happens to Each Material in Dry Mixed Recycling?

Cans

Aluminium and steel cans are separated, crushed, and baled at our MRF before being sent to a recycling plant in Warrington. Here, magnets separate metals, which are melted into solid blocks of metal more commonly known as ingots. These Ingots are typically cast into a shape perfect for further processing or manufacturing and are used to manufacture new drink cans, car parts, and even aircraft components. 

Plastics

Recorra collects and pre-sorts plastics such as PET, HDPE, and PP. These are baled and sent to a facility in Rochester, where they’re sorted further by type and colour.  

• PET bottles are washed, flaked, and turned into food-grade pellets for bottles or spun into fibres for textiles.  

• Natural HDPE (e.g. milk bottles) is cleaned, melted, and repurposed into new milk bottles.  

• Recycled PP is used to manufacture durable items like drainage pipes, plant pots, and ‘Plaswood’ products.  

Cartons

Cartons, such as Tetrapack, are then sent to Sonoco in Halifax to be dismantled and the components recycled. Recycled fibres are used to make products such as new packaging, insulation materials, paperboard, and even items like office paper, cardboard, and tissue products. 

Cardboard

Cardboard, one of the most common recyclable materials is baled at our MRF and sent to DS Smith (Sittingbourne) and Smurfit Kappa (Snodland, Kent). There, it’s pulped and converted into new packaging and cardboard, ensuring a closed-loop process that avoids landfill and incineration. Recorra offer and recommends separate cardboard collection services.  

Paper

Paper is mixed with water to create a fibre slurry. Contaminants like staples and ink are removed, and the fibres are dried into sheets. Any remaining sludge is repurposed for energy generation or agriculture.  

White Office Paper

Sorted white paper is sent to a specialist facility in Austria and recycled into high-quality copier paper. Some is also processed by Northwood Recycling into tissue and towel products, distributed back to customers by our Office Supplies team. This paper is available to purchase through Recorra’s Workplace Supplies, making it a truly circular process.   

Mixed Paper and Secure Shredding

Mixed paper and securely shredded paper are both sent to the Greenfield in Northen France to be recycled into new paper products.  

Your Dry Mixed Recycling Journey with Recorra

At Recorra, we are committed to repurposing materials by diverting recycling from general waste to conserve natural resources. By efficiently sorting and processing dry mixed recyclables like metals, plastics, paper, and cardboard, we transform waste into new products supporting a sustainable, closed-loop recycling system that protects the environment and supports a circular economy.