Every year, 8 billion plastic bags are given away by supermarkets and shops. This is equivalent to over 130 bags for every person in the UK. These will take up to 450 years to degrade.
A forest as big as Wales is needed every year to supply all the paper for the UK.
The average person throws away 74kgs of organic waste a year, equivalent to 1077 banana skins.
3.2 billion aluminium cans are still going into landfill (approximately 50,000 tonnes), equivalent to burying the Titanic every year.
Recycling
GMW handles over 1.4 million tonnes of municipal
solid waste each year, however, the company is focused on recycling
as much of this waste as is possible. Household Waste Recycling
Centres (managed by GMW) throughout the region have recycling
facilities for a wide range of materials.
Select your nearest Refuse
Site to see what facilities are available.
Four Materials Recovery
Facilities (MRFs) situated at South and North Manchester,
Stockport and Salford process around 1000 tonnes of waste each
day. These plants are designed to separate the waste into two
streams for recovery. Around 50 million aluminium cans are extracted
for recycling in this way every year, using techniques developed
in house. An astounding 200 million ferrous cans are also recycled
at the four MRFs.
Bolton Thermal Recovery
Facility (TRF) has the capacity to receive over 125,000
tones each year, burning Bolton's waste and transforming the
heat into electricity. 8.5 MW of renewable electricity will
be generated in this way (equivalent to the energy needed to
heat 7,000 homes). Steel is recovered from the ash, avoiding
landfill and contributing to the recycling totals. Following
the refurbishment of the plant, Bolton TRF has become one of
the cleanest installations of this kind.
