Where Does the Waste Go?

When you put your waste out for collection, what actually happens to it next?

The honest answer: it depends entirely on who collects it.

We ensure at least three waste collectors are available to collect you waste - and we vet them all in detail.

Not every waste company follows the same processes, and not every collector uses licensed, compliant waste sites. This is exactly why at Marshalls, we only work with fully licensed waste carriers and licensed waste transfer stations, ensuring every load is handled safely, legally and as sustainably as possible.

In the UK, waste is regulated by strict legislation including:

• The Environmental Protection Act 1990

• Duty of Care Regulations

• Waste (England & Wales) Regulations 2011

• Hazardous Waste Regulations

Which means every business is legally responsible for what happens to its waste even after it leaves your premises - so choosing a compliant collector really matters.

Every waste facility we use has been personally visited and fully vetted by the Marshalls team. We hold all relevant compliance documentation for each site, and we take full responsibility for ensuring every part of the process meets UK waste duty-of-care regulations.

Here’s a breakdown of where each waste stream actually goes once it’s collected.

1. General Waste (Residual Waste)

Where it goes: General waste is taken to a licensed waste transfer station.

Here it’s sorted, bulked, and sent to one of three places depending on the facility:

• Energy-from-Waste (EfW) plants where it’s converted to electricity or heat

• Mechanical treatment to extract recyclables

• Landfill (now very much a last resort in the UK due to restrictions and cost)

RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) blocks are a fuel created from non-recyclable waste like plastics, paper, and other combustible materials, used to generate energy instead of being sent to landfill.

The waste is processed, which can include shredding, and then burned in energy-from-waste plants to produce heat and electricity. It is a way to manage waste sustainably and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

All our current waste collectors we use in Norfolk are 'zero-to-landfill' suppliers for our commercial wheelie bins.

What this means for you: Your general waste doesn’t usually “just go to landfill” anymore. Most of it becomes energy - but only when handled through a compliant site.

2. Dry Mixed Recycling (DMR)

Includes: plastics, cans, cardboard, paper.

Where it goes: DMR is taken to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).

Here it goes through a series of mechanical and hand-sorting processes:

• Magnets (for metal)

• Air separators (for light materials)

• Optical scanners (for plastics)

• Shredders & balers

  
  

It’s then baled and sent to UK-based recyclers where possible. Some materials may be sent abroad, but only to approved and licensed recycling plants.

What this means for you: Clean, dry materials = more recycled, less rejected.

3. Food Waste

Where it goes: Food waste is usually sent to:

• Anaerobic digestion plants, where it breaks down to create biogas (which becomes renewable energy) and digestate (a nutrient-rich fertiliser)or

• In-vessel composting for materials like cooked foods and meat

What this means for you: Food waste becomes green energy and fertiliser - a great sustainability win.

4. Glass Waste

Where it goes: Glass is taken to a licensed glass recycling facility where it’s:

• Crushed into “cullet”

• Cleaned

• Melted

• Reformed into new bottles, jars or aggregate

Glass is infinitely recyclable with no loss of quality.

What this means for you: Separated glass = almost 100% recycled.

5. Metal Waste

Where it goes: Metal is taken to a scrap metal processing facility. There it’s sorted by type (steel, aluminium, copper etc.), shredded, melted and reused to create new metal products.

Recycling metal saves huge amounts of energy compared to producing new metals from ore.

6. Paper & Cardboard

Where it goes: Paper and card are sent to a UK paper mill for processing:

• Pulping

• Cleaning

• De-inking (if needed)

• Rolling into new paper products

Recycled cardboard is a growing UK industry, and demand is high.

Paper fibres shorten and weaken each time they’re recycled. On average, paper can be recycled around 5–7 times before the fibres become too short to use.

Cardboard follows the same pattern - strong at first, but the fibres reduce in length and strength with each cycle.

Did you know...for every tonne of paper or card recycled, you save roughly  17 mature trees?

Key benefits of recycling one tonne of paper or card:

• Trees: Saves approximately 17 mature trees.

• Water: Conserves up to 26,500 litres (7,000 gallons) of water.

• Energy: Saves around 4,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to power an average home for up to six months.

• Landfill Space: Frees up about 2.5 to 3.2 cubic metres of landfill space.

• Pollution: Generates 74% less air pollution compared to making paper from virgin materials. 

These figures (from WRAP) highlight the significant positive environmental impact of recycling paper and cardboard.

What recycled paper and card become:

Recycled fibres are used to create a huge range of new products, including:

• New cardboard boxes

• Paper bags

• Toilet roll & kitchen roll

• Newspapers & magazines

• Cereal boxes

• Egg boxes

• Packaging

• Paper towels

• Office paper (sometimes mixed with virgin fibre)

Once fibres reach the end of their usable life, they can still be used as:

• Animal bedding

• Compost additives

• Waste-to-energy feedstock

What this means for you: Clean, dry cardboard has a very high recycling rate - making it one of the most environmentally valuable waste streams for UK businesses.

7. Hazardous Waste

Includes: paint tins, chemicals, aerosols, certain electricals, oils, fluorescent tubes, batteries.

Where it goes: Hazardous waste must go to a licensed hazardous waste facility.

It’s usually:

• Neutralised

• Treated chemically

• Stabilised

• Incinerated (in specialist high-temperature incinerators)

• Recycled (certain oils, solvents, WEEE)

What this means for you: You must use a licensed collector - the fines for mishandling hazardous waste are huge.

Why Working With Licensed Waste Collectors Matters

When waste is mishandled, illegally dumped or sent to the wrong facility, the business that produced it can still be held responsible.

At Marshalls, we guarantee:

• Only fully licensed carriers collect your waste

• Every load is taken to a licensed, compliant waste site

• Full traceability and Duty of Care documentation

• UK recycling used where possible

• Zero shortcuts

  
  

We do waste properly - because your business reputation and legal compliance matter.

We’ll Worry About Your Waste So You Don’t Have To

Choosing the right waste company isn’t about “who’s cheapest.”

It’s about:

✔ legal compliance

✔ environmental responsibility

✔ transparency

✔ reliability

And that’s exactly what we deliver.

If you want a waste partner you can trust, with clear traceability and a friendly team always at the end of the phone, get in touch with Marshalls today.