Plastic bottle on a beach - Waste Management and Disposal

23rd February 2022

When you hire a skip, you’re relying on a waste management service to take responsibility for your rubbish. But have you ever paused to ponder what happens to the contents of a skip once it’s hauled away?

Understanding the journey of your skip waste is an essential part of responsible waste management, so it’s always good to have a fair grasp of the waste lifecycle before you hire your skip. Whether you’re using domestic or commercial skip hire, here’s what happens once your skip leaves your property.

The First Stop is Sorting and Processing

When your skip hire company collects your filled skip, they don’t head straight to a landfill site. Instead, the first stop is usually a waste processing facility. Here, the skip’s contents are sorted meticulously. This process is vital in waste management, ensuring that recyclable materials are separated from non-recyclables.

Expert sorters will filter out materials like plastic, glass, metal, and paper. These are then cleaned and processed to be recycled. This step is vital for the environment since it significantly reduces the amount of waste that ends up in landfill.

The Journey of Recyclables

The sorted recyclables embark on various paths. Paper and cardboard, for instance, are sent to paper mills where they are broken down and transformed into new paper products. Glass is melted and remoulded, often finding a new life as bottles or jars. Plastics and metals undergo a similar transformation, becoming raw materials for a myriad of new products.

This circular journey is a cornerstone of modern waste management, ensuring that materials are reused, reducing the need for new raw materials and conserving natural resources.

Dealing with Non-Recyclable Waste

Not everything in your skip is recyclable. Non-recyclable waste, which might include certain plastics, contaminated materials, or specific types of construction debris, is dealt with differently. In many cases, this waste heads to energy-from-waste plants.

These facilities incinerate the waste, generating electricity or heat in the process. While incineration is not without its environmental impacts, advances in technology have made it a cleaner and more efficient process, significantly reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills.

The Role of Landfill Sites

Despite advancements in recycling and energy recovery, some waste still ends up in landfill sites. Modern landfills are engineered to minimise environmental impact, and they feature linings to prevent toxic chemicals from leaching into soil and groundwater. In addition to this, hazardous waste is properly disposed of at modern landfill sites, and methane produced by decomposing waste is often captured to generate electricity.

Yet, landfills are the last resort in waste management. The aim is always to reduce the amount of waste reaching these sites, through increased recycling, reusing, and responsible consumption.

Scrap Metal Recycling

Another key part of recycling is disposing of scrap metal correctly. Scrap metal includes various discarded metal materials ranging from aluminium cans and copper wires to large machinery and vehicle parts.

Collection centres gather these metals from numerous sources, such as construction sites, manufacturing facilities, and household waste. After collection, specialised plants sort, process, and melt them down.

Recycling scrap metal significantly reduces the need for virgin ore mining, so it’s important that you take care to recycle any scrap metal that you have properly.

Your Role in the Process

As a consumer, your role in the recycling process is more significant than you might think. When you choose a responsible skip-hire service, you’re part of a larger ecosystem of waste management. By separating your waste and following the guidelines provided by your skip hire company, you can ensure more materials are recycled and less end up in landfills.

Skip Hire with Stabler Waste Management

By understanding where your skip waste goes, you become an integral part of a sustainable waste management cycle.

If you’re gearing up for a new project and need a dependable solution for managing your waste, consider Stabler Waste Management. Book a skip with us or get in touch with us for guidance on responsible waste disposal today.

In other news...

Domestic vs. Commercial Skip Hire: How to Choose the Right Service

Choosing the right skip hire service can make the difference between a smooth project completion and unnecessary complications. At Bob Stabler & Sons Ltd, we’ve been helping customers across North and East Yorkshire navigate this decision for over 60 years. Understanding whether you need domestic or commercial skip hire services is crucial for ensuring you […]

Your Complete Guide to Skip Hire in Bridlington: Domestic and Commercial Solutions

When you’re faced with clearing out your home or managing waste at a commercial site, finding the right skip hire service makes all the difference. Here in Bridlington, we at Stabler Waste Management have been helping locals tackle their waste disposal needs for over six decades, and we understand exactly what our community requires. Operating […]

All You Need To Know About Hazardous Waste Management

At Stabler Waste Management, operating as Bob Stabler & Sons Ltd, we’ve spent over 60 years perfecting our waste management services. Today, I’d like to share our expertise on one of our specialised services: hazardous waste management. With environmental concerns growing and regulations becoming stricter, understanding proper hazardous waste disposal has never been more important. […]

Where Does Your Skip Waste Go?