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Facts & Stats

Textiles

Textiles are made from either natural or synthetic fibres. Natural fibres include vegetable fibres like cotton and animal fibres such as wool. Man-made fibres such as nylon are made from oil.

Man-made fibres deplete resources and use energy because they come from oil, but natural fibres require pesticides and herbicides to ensure quality and efficient harvesting. In the Third World, out of the 300 million kilograms of pesticides that are used every year, half is on cotton crops.

Textiles waste, which goes to landfill, decomposes to contribute to a toxic liquid - which is dangerous to wildlife and the environment and can contaminate the water table. Decomposing organic fibres produces the greenhouse gas methane and ammonia, which is highly toxic to land and water environments.

Glass

Glass is made from sand, soda ash and limestone – these all have to be quarried or mined and are irreplaceable once used.

The manufacture of glass requires the materials to be heated up 1,500 degrees - carbon dioxide emissions totalled 1.8million tonnes in 2006 from the fossil fuels burnt in factories.

When recycled glass is used to make new bottles and jars it melts at a lower temperature, saving energy and reducing emissions.

Every UK family uses about 330 glass bottles and jars every year.

The energy saved from recycling one bottle can power a bulb for an hour,
a computer for 25 minutes and a TV for 20 minutes.

Aluminium Bales

Every piece of foil and aluminium food container counts, as you can see. These are processed through our machinery and turned into large bales. which are then sent off to a local dealer and re-used for all sorts of recycled things.