What happens to it?

Have you ever wondered what happens to recyclable materials collected in Central Virginia?  Materials collected in your community follow a variety of paths once they leave your home. 

The journey begins when recyclables collected in both the CVWMA curbside and drop-off programs are taken to the Materials Recovery Facility of Tidewater Fibre Corporation located in Chester, Virginia. 

Check out these cool pictures that show how collected materials are sorted and processed after they leave your home.

There, the mingled materials are divided:  plastics are sorted by number and color, aluminum and steel are separated with magnets, and the various grades of paper, from newsprint to cardboard, are sorted into piles. 

Each different type of material is baled and sold to another company that may further prepare it or that will use it to make a new product.   Some materials become the same product or something similar.  Others are recycled into very unexpected things.  You might be surprised what post-consumer recycled materials you have in your home right now! 

PLASTIC	Plastic soft drink and water bottles, mouthwash bottles and salad dressing containers can be used to make tote bags, clothing, furniture, and carpet, in addition to being remanufactured into the original containers again.
PLASTIC	The plastic in milk, water and juice containers, and liquid detergent bottles can reappear as drainage pipe, oil bottles, recycling bins, benches,  doghouses, floor tile, picnic tables, lumber, mailbox posts, and fencing in addition to those original containers. -American Plastics Council
PAPER	In 2003 the U.S. paper recovery rate achieved an all-time high of 50.3% with 49.3 million tons recycled in 2003. Paper recovery in 1990 was only 33.5%.  More paper is recovered in America for recycling than all other materials combined.  More than one third of the raw material fiber U.S. papermakers use comes from recycled paper. -American Forest and Paper Association
NEWSPAPER	Newspaper collected in CVWMA's drop-off program is used to create 100% recycled newsprint for the central Virginia region.
ALUMINUM	The aluminum beverage can is 100 percent recyclable into new beverage cans indefinitely.  Americans recycled 51.5 billion aluminum cans in 2004. -The Aluminum Association, Inc.
STEEL	The North American steel industry annually recycles millions of tons of steel scrap from recycled cans, automobiles, appliances, construction materials and other steel products. This scrap is melted to produce new steel. -Steel Recycling Institute