Recycle More
If you're not already recycling, find out more about how easy it is and how you can really make a difference. For those who already recycle, discover the positive effect your recycling efforts are making and find out what else you may be able to do.
So, you are already recycling using the recycling collections we collect from your home, but there are lots more ways for you to recycle and help the environment. Use the menu on the left to see some ideas on how you can recycle more.
Why Recycle?
In Solihull we produce around 102,000 tones of waste every year - on average, this works out at around 1 tonne per household. That's the same weight as 12,798 double decker buses - if you parked these buses end to end they would stretch from Solihull to Swindon and back!
Most of your rubbish goes for incineration or to landfill sites, but these are filling up fast and the cost of having to send waste to landfill is rising. The good news is that nearly 34% per cent of this is now being recycled or composted and Solihull Council is working hard to make is easier for you to recycle more.
Recycling allows materials to be used again and again which is good news for the environment because it reduces the need to take raw materials out of the earth. This saves energy and so helps to reduce your carbon footprint.
A to Z of Recycling
Solihull Council have produced an A to Z of Recycling to help you recycle. This A-Z provides details of how you can dispose of unwanted items without just throwing them in the bin. Most items in a household bin can be recycled or reused. We only have this booklet electronically, and it can be downloaded from our attachments.
Real Nappies
Give your baby a real start - see our page on real cotton nappies
Waste to Energy
Solihull has met the targets set for recovery of energy from waste. The collected household waste is disposed of via a Waste to Energy plant in Coventry, that Solihull Council part own.
Energy and heat produced is used to heat the plant and neighbouring factories, steam is used to produce electricity, which is sold back to the National Grid. For information on the Coventry and Solihull Waste to Energy plan see http://www.cswdc.co.uk/
Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA) is a by-product from the Energy from Waste process and predominately consists of glass, clinker, metals and fines and makes up between 19 to 21% by weight of the waste you leave in your residual wheelie bin. This material is now being recycled into secondary aggregates. The IBA is taken to a plant and then processed by crushing, screening and seperating to produce an aggregate suitiable for use in the construction industry. The advantage of doing this is it replaces virgin aggregate ie reduces quarrying and improves the Councils recycling rate which are both an environmental benefit.