It’s Recycle Week!

The UK’s annual awareness campaign which encourages people, businesses and local authorities to recycle more and avoid unnecessary waste.

At M&M Waste Solutions, we are proud to be Oxfordshire’s leading commercial waste management provider and recycle more than 112,000 tonnes of waste destined for landfill each year from our waste transfer station in Cassington.

That’s the equivalent weight of more than 10,000 double decker buses, or 53 London Eyes!

To mark Recycle Week, we caught up with Simon Spurgeon – Regional Operations Manager at M&M Waste Solutions – to find out how our innovation, technology, facilities and people contribute to sustainable waste management in Oxfordshire.

Where waste collected by M&M Waste Solutions comes from

Materials are collected from household skips, demolition sites and businesses across Oxfordshire before being transported to our waste transfer station in Cassington.

It’s here where materials are divided up for onwards recycling.

Simon said: “Almost everyone assumes that when we collect skips it marks the end of the process.

“In reality, it’s where our work begins.

“Every day, we process a volume of weight equivalent to 33 double decker buses through our Cassington plant.

“It’s a massive operation, which is hard to grasp without seeing it for yourself.

“Every load is inspected twice to remove any materials we cannot recycle, before being shredded down to 400mm pieces and running through our conveyor system.

“We have a dozen workers on our picking lines who manually remove woods, hardcore and metals before leftovers run through an automated system to separate the final pieces.”

What happens to waste once it has been processed

Our waste transfer station at M&M Waste Solutions has three primary purposes:

  • Shred materials to prepare them for sorting
  • Separate recyclable waste into departments
  • Remove hazardous waste which cannot be recycled – cables, batteries, asbestos

Once materials have been processed and separated into their own bays, the recycling can begin.

Hardcore materials are crushed and processed into construction aggregates, metals are sorted and sent to scrap metal merchants, woods can be used for biomass fuel or board manufacturing and paper, glass and plastics are resold to create new goods.

How can I recycle more at home

Did you know, the average person in the UK throws away 400kg of waste every year.

In fact, less than half (44 per cent) of household waste is recycled.

Having the correct infrastructure is critical to achieving optimal recycling rates. But there are a few simple tweaks we can all make to cut down on the volume of black bin waste we generate.

Being mindful of what waste can be placed into a skip is one of them.

Simon said: “Throwing materials which can be reused is easy to do.

“Recycling requires behavioural change. People need to consider what can and cannot be reused either in your own household, or by a friend who could be working on a project.

“Having the infrastructure is critical too.

“It’s why our team can recycle so much of the waste we collect.

“Immediate steps people can take, though, are to replace single use plastics and avoid pre-packaged materials by purchasing loose foods, which are often cheaper.”

Book a skip today!

If you’re about to start a garden project or are planning any DIY and renovation jobs between now and Christmas, you’ll need a skip to manage all the waste collected.

You can drop our team a message today to find out what type of skip you might require and if you’ll need a permit, which our team can help organise on your behalf.

We hope to hear from you soon!