Blue recycling bin

The Greater Manchester Combined authority (GMCA) have extended the waste disposal contracts with SUEZ recycling and recovery UK, (SUEZ UK) until 2034. SUEZ UK operate the waste sorting and treatment plants and run the household waste recycling centres. This provides certainty for making long term changes and means we can invest in our waste technology by upgrading our Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and in building a new one that can cope with a growing population and changes in packaging policy.

Once your bin has been collected and emptied into the back of the our bin wagon, the wagon tips off the load at the transfer loading station and the mixed recycling goes to the materials recovery facility at Longley Lane, Sharston in Manchester. Here, the recycling goes through a series of conveyors where magnets, eddy currents and optical sorters separate the recycling into separate materials, including glass, steel, aluminium and plastic. The plastic bottles and pots, tubs and trays are sent to a plastics recycler in the UK who sort the plastic into different types of plastics (HDPE, PET, PP). Then it’s washed and forced through small holes (extruded) to make plastic pellets. These are supplied to manufacturers, who use the plastic pellets to make new products with a recycled plastic content.

• Find out more about how the MRF separates your recycling by booking on a tour of the materials recovery facility to see behind the scenes. Recycle for Greater Manchester - Site tours and visits

The little numbers in a triangle that you see on the bottom of rigid plastics are a 'resin identification code'. The symbol tells you what type of plastic the item is made from. It does not tell you if it is recyclable or not. The symbol was adopted in the 1980s before the triangular arrows became linked to recycling. The numbers range from 1 to 7 and are all different types of plastic, some of which can be recycled easily, but not all of them.

• Please refer to this web page or your collection calendar to find out what you can put in your blue bin.

In Greater Manchester, we currently only recycle plastic pots, tubs, trays and plastic bottles. Other types of plastic packaging (such as plastic bags, bread bags, film and polystyrene) are made of lower grade plastic or made up of layers of different polymers which are difficult to separate and recycle. For that reason, plastic bags and film are currently collected in the general waste bin, which is sent by rail to an energy from waste plant in Runcorn where it is burned to generate electricity.

Lids from plastic bottles fall off the bottles during the separating process and end up getting mixed in with the glass which can ruin the glass recycling. If you can easily remove a lid, we ask that all plastic lids are left off the bottles and placed in the general waste bin.

Hard plastics such as old plastic garden furniture or children’s toys that are broken or no longer usable can be recycled at your local Recycling Centre. The hard plastics are bulked up and taken to a reprocessor where they are recycled into new plastic products. Hard plastic cannot be recycled in your mixed recycling bin as they are too large and have a different recycling process compared to your plastic pots, tubs, trays and plastic bottles.

• Find your nearest recycling centre: Recycle for Greater Manchester - Find a recycling centre

If you stack your plastic pots, tubs and trays inside each other in your bin it should take up a lot less space. You can also squash your plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays to make more space in your bin.

If you find your blue bin is still getting full, find out how you can reduce your waste or request an extra blue recycling bin.

Yes, plastic pots, tubs and trays can be recycled in the mixed recycling container along with plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, food tins, drink cans, empty aerosols and foil.

Yes, anyone living in a flat or apartment where you share recycling bins with your neighbours, can recycle plastic pots, tubs and trays in the blue recycling bin. The signage and stickers on the bin may not change straight away but these will be updated over the coming months.