What happens to your waste

We are responsible for:

• providing recycling centres for residents to recycle a variety of items and dispose of bulky waste
• treating food and garden waste collected by district councils
• delivering waste and environmental education to schools across Cambridgeshire, including through the council's Education Centre
• working with other councils in Cambridgeshire, local businesses, charities and community groups to run waste and environmental campaigns

We have a 28-year Private Finance Initiative contract with Thalia that started in 2008 that includes:

• treatment and disposal of black bin/residual waste
• treatment of separately collected food and garden waste
• operation of two transfer stations at Alconbury and March
• management of the 9 Household Recycling Centres

Black bin/residual waste

We are responsible for:

• treating non-recycled 'black bin rubbish' collected by your district council

We have a 28-year Private Finance Initiative contract with Thalia that started in 2008 that includes:

• treatment and disposal of black bin/residual waste

Cambridgeshire's 'black bin' household waste is taken to the Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) facility at Waterbeach where material is mechanically sorted to recover some metal items for recycling before the remaining material is composted. Recovered metal items are badly contaminated so please recycle as much as possible through your kerbside collections and via the Household Recycling Centres. This will allow the best recovery rate for the recycled materials and maintain their quality.

Composting material before sending it to landfill has the following advantages:

• Biodegradable material breaks down in controlled conditions, so reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared with sending the waste straight to landfill.

The process reduces the amount sent to landfill by about one-third, this:

• Saves money as landfill is increasingly expensive, and
• Means that remaining landfill space will last longer.

When the MBT facility at Waterbeach is unavailable due to, breakdowns, maintenance or improvement works it is necessary to send “black bag” waste direct to landfill or use alternative disposal routes that may vary depending on availability at the time.

Garden waste

Introduction of separate food waste collections during this year means that garden waste from those areas, (where food waste collections have been introduced) is now processed through a simpler composting process than when food was included. This is like the way that a garden compost heap works but on a larger scale and with material being regularly turned to make the natural processes more effective and quicker.

Food waste

Food waste collection vehicles deliver to local drop off points at Alconbury, March and Waterbeach. Food waste is then moved in larger vehicles to anaerobic digestion sites for treatment.

Anaerobic digestion is a natural process that breaks down food waste without oxygen. Tiny organisms help turn this waste into biogas, which can be used to produce electricity and heat, the material left over, called digestate, is rich in nutrients and can be used as a fertiliser.

Soil improver

Soil improver is the material produced when kitchen and garden waste is composted and is a useful additive to help improve soil quality. It can be purchased for £4 a bag, (or £11.50 for three bags) at Household Recycling Centres.

Recyclable waste

In Cambridgeshire material from blue bin recycling collections is managed by the district and city councils that collect it. Material is taken to a Materials Recovery Facility at Waterbeach where it is separated into different material types before being sent for recycling.

Recyclable materials from Household Recycling Centres are collected separately, so are sent directly to a variety of outlets for recycling.

Most of Cambridgeshire’s recyclable material is recycled in the UK. Visit What happens to waste in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough - RECAP website to find out more.