Recycling Centre at Bursom Industrial Estate 

The 'Ball Mill' Recycling Process

The Ball Mill is responsible for diverting over 70% of wheelie bin waste from landfill and is the only one in the UK at present.

The Ball Mill is a huge drum, approximately 6.4 meters wide and contains 42 tonnes of steel balls.

The waste is fed into the drum, which rotates in a similar way to a washing machine. The balls then create a tumbling effect within the waste and grind, pummel and smash it up into smaller pieces. The waste will then fall through small holes inside the Ball Mill and will be extracted out through various processes further down the line.

ALL METALS  - Magnetic metals will be pulled of the conveyor belts by magnets,  non-magnetic metals gets flipped into a different container by an Eddy Current. All metals are turned into new metal products.

ALL LIGHT MATERIAL (including plastics, cardboard, food containers etc)] - All light materials are extracted by air streams which blow them into a separate container. This material is called FLOC and is used as an alternative to fossil fuel in the cement making industry.

KITCHEN/GARDEN WASTE - All organic waste (kitchen scraps, grass cuttings etc) is extracted out by a Flip Flow machine that acts similar to a sieve, and is sent to an Anaerobic Digester where it is turned into a soil conditioner that is used on re-claimed land.

For a more complex explanation to the Ball Mill and the various extraction processes click here