Skip to content Logo
Sign in to My Account
Residents
Adult Social Care
Benefits and money advice
Bins, rubbish and recycling
Births, deaths, ceremonies and nationality
Children, young people and families
Council Tax
Education, schools and learning
Environmental issues
Housing
Jobs, careers and volunteering
Libraries, arts and heritage
Neighbourhoods and communities
Nuisance, crime and safety
Parking, roads and travel
Parks, leisure and healthy living
Planning and building control
Business
Business advice and support
Business rates
Coronavirus support
Filming in Brent
Food safety and hygiene
Health and safety
Information for landlords
Land, property and workspaces
Licences and permits
Pest control
Planning and building control
Promote your business
Regeneration
Tenders and procurement
Commercial waste
Trading Standards
Council and democracy
Elections and voting
Council representatives
Meetings and decision making
Complaints
Contact Brent Council
My Account
About the council
Strategies, priorities and plans
Budgets and spending
Access to information
Fraud and corruption
Home
Bins rubbish and recycling
Recycle reduce reuse
What happens to your recycling and organic waste

What happens to your recycling and organic waste

Have you ever wondered what happens to the recycling that is collected from your home?

Once your recycling has been collected from your home it is taken to a state of the art Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) located in the London Borough of Southwark.

  1. The materials are unloaded from the vehicles and placed onto a moving belt.
  2. Bulky materials such as cardboard boxes and various types of plastic are handpicked and stored in containers.
  3. Then various mechanical processes separate glass, steel, aluminium, paper, cartons and plastics from each other.
  4. An additional manual sorting of items then takes place.
  5. Finally, a mechanical unit identifies any materials that have not been separated in the previous stages. Once separated, the materials are sent to different companies to create new products.

If you want further information on this process email recyclemore@brent.gov.uk

What happens to your organic waste? (needs updating)

The food and garden waste we collect from households across Brent is taken to a composting facility run by West London Composting, based in Harefield.

  1. The contents are unloaded and shredded to break down any large items of garden waste.
  2. The material is then placed into a controlled environment for ten days.
  3. The temperature must reach at least 60c for two of those days.
  4. The organic material is transferred to another container where the above process is repeated.
  5. After this stage the material is placed outside where it matures for six to eight weeks.
  6. Finally the material is screened and sold on as compost.
Brent homepage
Your council
Complaints and feedback Contact the council Jobs at the council News and Press office Sign up to our weekly email news updates
My Account
Manage your Council Tax, housing benefits, council rent account and more through My Account.
Sign in or register
Follow us on social
Brent council's Facebook page Brent council's Instagram page Brent council's LinkedIn site Brent council's Twitter feed Brent council's YouTube channel
Accessibility statement Cookies policy Privacy policy Terms of use
© Copyright Brent Council 2022