Recycling - Find a freedom of information request

There are a lot of myths about recycling and I am looking for definitive answers.

For example

1. Where is the recycling taken? (I would have assumed Mountain)
2. Are items placed in recycling bins sorted?  That is if a bin has something in it that can't be recycled does it 'contaminate' the whole bin or can it just be removed by the recycler?
3. What are the items we send for recycling actually made into?
4. Does it all stay within the county - or country even, or does it ever get shipped abroad.
5. Do the items we can recycle ever change, are more ever added to the list?
6. Why do different district councils have different items that can be recycled?  Do they all go to different places?

1. All recycling collected at the kerbside by the district councils currently goes to New Earth Solutions trading as Mid UK to their Caythorpe and Barkston Material Reclamation Facilities. This contract expires 31/03/20 and the council is currently re-tendering this part of the waste service

2. All materials collected co-mingled in the bins are sorted into separate material streams at the Material Reclamation Facilities at Caythorpe and Barkston where those materials that are regarded as contaminants are removed.

3. This depends on the quality of the recyclate and what the material actually is. Metals will go to re-melt, paper and card of good quality will go to make paper and card, glass can get re-melted into glass or go into other applications such as aggregate replacement, and higher grade plastics will eventually be turned into pellets and go back into making new plastic items.

4. There is very little re-processing capacity in the county, but the amount of material going abroad has drastically reduced since the far eastern markets placed stringent quality controls on material being sent there. This has in turn stimulated a search for UK and European processing capacity.

5. This can happen but the general move is to go toward recycling those materials that have value and markets for the end product so this may in turn reduce the actual amount of items being collected.

6. This reflects the local approach that was taken by different district councils to the implementation of broad national strategy in areas such as Lincolnshire where there are two tiers of local government. The districts organise and operate the collections and the county council is responsible for disposal so all materials go through the same contract and to the same place. That could change with the new recyclables contract from next April.