So, you might be wondering what exactly happens to the recycling boxes once they’re back at our ReFactory in Hull; we’ve written a quickfire step-by-step for each part of the process once your filled box is sent back to us.
Once the box arrives at the depot via courier, the recycling process can begin. Firstly the details and weight of the box are recorded on our system.
Your box then goes into ‘lockdown’ for 72 hours. We know it’s a phrase we don’t want to hear, but due to Covid-19, we must ensure we quarantine the box for at least three days; especially important if you’ve taken part in our #ReclaimTheMask scheme!
Once the quarantine ends we transfer the boxes to our sorting tables (built from recycled plastic of course). The material is split and manually checked by our trained staff. We are looking for un-accepted material initially, but we know how good our ReFactory customers are, so we tend to find very few issues.
During the initial sorting, we remove any glass and metal parts for recycling.
The plastics then go through our pre-shredding system to open the structure up. As we accept materials with residues, this process is vital to opening up the material to be washed.
High-pressure washing and high frication remove the residues which we then deal with through our organics facility.
Once clean, the materials are shredded again – this time into 5mm pieces. This is blended with other plastics (to an exact recipe for consistency) to make up the core of our boards.
The plastic mix is taken to the board mill to be pressed into 8×4 sheets. The MYboard press lays two ‘outer coatings’ and a core, before using heat to fuse into a durable sheet.
The plastic has now been officially recycled into a product bound for a new life!
At ReFactory we are always going one step further in ensuring our closed-loop system is truly closed. Our ReSure policy means that we will aid all those that sign up to our system to recover and recycle any item or products we supply. Any product we produce can be recycled over and over, having a never-ending life cycle.
Even the cardboard box goes through our shredding and cutting machine to make new packaging material and the LDPE liner goes to our UK partner who makes them back into our next batch of green liners. Nothing gets wasted!
