Waste Management

What happens to non-recyclable waste in skips?

What happens to non-recyclable waste in skips?

When you’ve had a big garden overhaul, moved to a new house, or undertaken some renovation works, you’ve probably created a skip full of waste. But when the skip is collected, what happens to all the rubbish next?

Recyclable waste is redirected

When you hire a skip from Rabbit, we don’t send any of your waste to landfill sites. We recycle as much as possible and generate green electricity from the remainder. In a fully automated process, we remove soil, bricks and hardcore and redirect these to the construction and aggregate industries. Metals are sent to metal merchants. Plastics are baled and redirected to specialist plastic handlers.

Non-recyclable waste is shredded

With all the recyclable waste retrieved and sent to specialists, we finely shred the non-recyclable content. There’s further screening for any last remaining metals in another, fully-automated process.

The shredded materials are burned

What remains is burned in our Energy From Waste Facility. The super-heated steam powers high-pressure turbines, driving a generator that produces green electricity. We generate enough green electricity to power around 8,000 homes.

What’s the environmental benefit?

Recycling is the gold standard in waste management, but not everything is recyclable yet. In the meantime, diverting waste away from landfill is better for the environment, as landfill sites can leak toxins into groundwater and aren’t a sustainable method of waste disposal. With Energy From Waste Facilities, green energy is produced from non-recyclable content.

What about emissions?

Quite rightly, there are questions about the emissions from Energy from Waste Facilities. At Rabbit, following the very high temperature burn & dwell time, which reduces the production of many hazardous emissions, we treat the exhausts from our combustors through a cooling process, addition of cleaning additives and then a fine filter plant. This means our emissions are below permitted levels. We even send the ash that we produce to be recycled into aggregate.

How can I find out more?

To find out more about skip hire in West Sussex and our Energy from Waste Facility, contact Rabbit. Reach us on 01903 762020 or email info@rabbitgroup.co.uk.