Who processes our recycling?
All household recycling from Stoke-on-Trent is sent to Bespoke Recycling Ltd, our contracted Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). This is a UK‑based plant where all your mixed recycling (fully co‑mingled) is sorted into individual materials such as:
- paper
- cardboard
- metals
- plastics
- glass
We pay a gate fee for this sorting service, which is normal for councils that operate co‑mingled collections.
What happens to the sorted materials?
After sorting:
- Clean, good‑quality materials are sold to reprocessors who turn them into new products.
- The majority of these materials stay within the UK, although some may be sold to international markets, but only where it is permitted under UK and EU waste export regulations.
- Contaminated or non‑recyclable items cannot be recycled and are sent for Energy-from-Waste (EfW) treatment—not landfill.
Any overseas exports carried out by Bespoke are regulated, legal, and must meet strict standards ensuring materials are actually recycled and not dumped.
Does our waste get dumped overseas?
No. Our contractor is legally required to ensure any material sent abroad is:
- properly sorted
- traceable
- compliant with waste export law
- going to legitimate recycling facilities
We also receive regular reports on end‑destinations to ensure compliance.
Do we send waste to landfill?
We operate a zero‑to‑landfill policy.
Only around 0.2% of ash residue from the EfW process (which cannot be recovered) goes to landfill. Everything else is:
- Recycled (e.g. metals from the bottom ash), or
- Used to generate electricity from waste that cannot be recycled
Why recycling is still necessary?
Even though non-recyclable waste is recovered for energy, recycling remains the best environmental and financial option:
- Recycling uses far less energy than producing materials from raw resources
- It reduces the need for mining, drilling and tree felling
- It cuts carbon emissions It keeps materials in the circular economy
- Recyclables sent to the MRF helps reduce the costs of waste disposal overall - every tonne we send to the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) rather than the Energy-from-Waste (EFW) can save monies due to the cost of the EfW being higher than the gate fee at the MRF.
Why does rinsing and sorting recycling matters?
You don’t need to scrub items, just a quick rinse is enough. Clean and sorted recycling:
- Improves the quality of materials
- Reduces contamination
- Ensures more of what you put in the bin is actually recycled
- Reduces the amount sent to EfW