Leicester's Recycling Plant

The 'Ball Mill' Recycling Process 

All of Leicester's wheelie bin waste is taken to Leicester's Recycling Plant and processed through the Ball Mill.

The Ball Mill is a huge drum, 6.4 meters wide and contains 42 tonnes of steel balls and is responsible for diverting approximately 70% of wheelie bin waste from landfill. Currently, the ball mill and its process is the only one in the UK.

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 the waste 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 (ferrous) will be pulled of the conveyor belts by magnets, non-magnetic (non ferrous) 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, envelopes, food containers etc) - All light materials are extracted by air streams, which blow them into a separate container. This material is called FLOC and can be used as an alternative to fossil fuel in industry.

KITCHEN/GARDEN WASTE - All organic waste (kitchen scraps, grass cuttings etc) is extracted out by a flip flow machine which acts similar to a sieve and is sent to an Anaerobic Digester. Here, the material is turned into a soil conditioner which is used on re-claimed land. Also, through this process, electricity is generated, which is fed back into the National Grid. The plant has the capability of producing 1.5 megawatts per hour, capable of supplying 1500+ homes!!!

Click here to view the Ball Mill leaflet, or for a more complex explanation to the Ball Mill and the various extraction processes click here