Waste transfer station
Kerbside collections of household and commercial recycling takes place across the Borders.
Once collected it needs sent to a suitable treatment facility. Most of the treatment facilities are outwith the Borders, and so it is not efficient to drive it all the way there in the bin lorry that it was collected in.
The bin lorries therefore deliver their collected material to their nearest waste transfer station. The waste transfer station at Easter Langlee accepts the materials placed in the blue recycling bin from the bin lorries.
Inside the transfer station
This material is transferred into an articulated vehicle, which then transports the recyclate to the treatment facility.
This operation minimises the cost and carbon emissions of transportation.
What about waste that cannot be recycled?
Waste that cannot be recycled is put into the transfer station through the hole-in-the wall in the community recycling centre.
Waste which cannot be recycled is loaded onto an articulated vehicle and transported to a waste treatment facility where the waste goes through a sorting process to remove recyclable materials such as paper, cardboard, metals and plastics. The remaining waste is then shredded and becomes a Refuse Derived Fuel, which is used in the Energy from Waste Power Plant to generate heat and electricity.