Where your household recycling and rubbish goes

Your recycling is taken to a sorting facility, where machinery separates materials such as paper, cardboard, glass, metal and plastic. The separated materials are then sent to re-processors to be made into new materials and products.

For example:

• Paper and cardboard are pulped and made into new paper and card.
• Steel and aluminium are melted and used to make new metal products.
• Suitable plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays are sorted by type, cleaned and processed into material for manufacturing.
• Glass bottles and jars are processed to make new glass products.

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Where is the recycling sorted and processed?

All of the recycling collected in your orange lidded bins is sent to Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) in England to be sorted. A variety of magnets, currents, size-sorting equipment and conveyor belts separate the different materials into single streams. They are then baled and sold to re-processors who melt, pulp or crush them to make new materials and products.

Where a re-processor is outside of the UK, they are fully licensed and operate to our expected environmental standards. 

Some items placed in the recycling bin cannot be recycled through this service. These may be removed during sorting and sent for further treatment. Please check what goes in your bin before putting an item in your orange-lidded bin.

Food waste collected in Bedford Borough is sent to a local Biogen UK facility for anaerobic digestion. In this enclosed process, microorganisms break down the food waste without oxygen. The process produces biogas, which can be used to generate renewable energy for the National Grid, and nutrient-rich liquid fertiliser for local farms.

Bedford Borough’s weekly food waste service began on 30 March 2026.

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What about liners?

Liners and bags are separated from the food waste during processing. Check our food waste collections page for guidance on what you can use.

The separated liners and bags are transferred to approved waste treatment facilities. Biogen currently sends this material to Veolia’s treatment facility at Ling Hall, Warwickshire, but it is actively seeking to divert more of it to energy recovery facilities wherever possible. 

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Your garden waste (including real Christmas trees) is sent to a local composting facility operated by Growing Beds Ltd in Ravensden where it is made into compost through a process called open windrow composting. 

How the process works

• Preparation: Incoming green waste, such as grass cuttings, leaves, plant prunings, and small branches, is weighed and inspected for quality, and shredded to reduce size and increase surface area.
• Windrow formation: The shredded organic material is stacked into long, piles (typically 1-3 metres high and 3-6 metres wide) on a non-permeable surface.
• Aerobic decomposition and turning: Microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) break down the organic matter. Loading shovels (also known as a bucket loader, a heavy-duty piece of earthmoving machinery) regularly mix and turn the piles to supply fresh oxygen, regulate moisture, and distribute heat evenly.
• Temperature control: The active piles naturally heat up to high temperatures (often above 55°C to 60°C), which sanitises the material, destroys weed seeds and pathogens, and speeds up decomposition. This phase typically lasts from 8 to 14 weeks.
• Screening and grading: Once mature, the compost is run through a large rotating drum (trommel screen) to remove any remaining non-compostable contaminants like plastics or metals, and to grade the final product into specific particle sizes (eg for horticulture or agriculture).

It is sorted into three sizes:

1. 0 to 10mm horticultural grade PAS100 compost.
2. 10 to 30mm agricultural grade PAS100 compost.
3. Any remaining compost (oversized wood) is reprocessed with new incoming waste to provide a source of carbon during the sterilisation phases.

Food waste cannot go in the green-lidded bin. It needs to be treated separately in a suitable facility using a different process. 

Accepted garden waste includes items such as grass cuttings, leaves, plants and hedge clippings. Do not put food waste, soil, rubble or large branches in your green bin. Check what goes in your bin for the full list.

Rubbish from your black bin is taken to the Energy from Waste (EfW) facility in Stewartby. Metals are recovered for recycling, and the remaining waste is treated to produce steam and generate electricity.

None of the black bin general rubbish collected in Bedford Borough goes to landfill sites which are harmful to the local environment and produce methane, a powerful climate gas.

Find out more about the Energy from Waste facility and visitor centre.