Aluminium

Every year more than five billion aluminium cans are bought in the UK. Many of these have ended up in landfill to date. Re-Gen however sorts and bales hundreds of tonnes of used aluminium cans every year which can be re-used in the U.K.

Steel

Removing hundreds of tonnes of steel cans from waste every year, Re-Gen collects and forwards these so that they can be melted down and re-used. Not only does this reduce the amount of steel lost every year to landfill, but if everyone recycled their steel, the energy saved could power 18 million homes for a year.

Paper

Every year you will use approximately one 100-foot-tall Douglas fir tree in paper and wood products. Recycling just 1 ton of paper saves 17 mature tress, 7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill, 2 barrels of oil and 4100kilowatts hours of electricity.

Paper is a biodegradable material and as such people don't automatically link waste paper and cardboard to environmental problems. However, being biodegradable means that when it goes to landfill sites throughout the U.K., it rots, producing methane. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and it therefore an indirect catalyst to global warming.

Reclaiming thousands of tonnes of paper every year, Re-Gen sorts and bales the material before forwarding it onto paper-mills throughout the world where it is made into newspaper, tissues, paper towels, notebook paper, envelopes, copy paper as well as insulations boxes, hydro-mulch, moulded packaging, gypsum wallboard, compost and even kitty litter.

Plastic

Recognising the long-term impact the disposal of plastic materials have on the environment, Re-Gen sort and separate plastics as they are processed through the facility. The result – thousands of tonnes of plastic is saved from being lost to landfill every year. This reclaimed plastic is then baled and sent to be recycled where it can be used to make new plastic bottles, pipes, buckets and even clothing.

Cardboard

In 2003/04, paper and cardboard accounted for over a quarter of all household waste collected in England. The equates to 2.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard ending up in landfill sites every year. Alarmingly in the UK alone over six million tonnes of paper and cardboard is being used only once despite the capacity for paper recycling. This is partly due to 40% of the UK population openly admitting that they never recycle anything.

Despite the fibres in cardboard becoming shorter each time they are recycled, card can be recycled four or five times. An obvious use for recycled card is to make more cardboard boxes and packaging, along with other applications such as animal bedding, office supplies and even bio-degradeable coffins. Cardboard also makes excellent compost.