This Recycle Week (14–20 September), Recycle Devon is lifting the lid on what happens to Devon’s recycling after it is collected — helping residents see how their efforts at home make a real difference.

Devon is currently a top performing county when it comes to recycling, with residents recycling 54.5% of their waste in 2024/25.

It is widely known that recycling saves energy and resources, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and helps tackle climate change. By making use of existing materials, it reduces the need to extract, refine and process raw materials, while also diverting waste from energy recovery facilities and landfill, which are more costly and less environmentally friendly disposal options.

While the majority of Devon households recycle as much as possible, some residents remain unsure about what happens to their recycling once it has been collected.

To combat this, Recycle Devon has published information on recycledevon.org, detailing what happens to a range of materials such as paper and card, garden waste, plastic, metal, textiles, electrical equipment and food waste.

Visitors to the website can explore how different materials are sorted and recycled through a range of short videos, offering a behind-the-scenes look at what happens after recycling leaves the kerbside bin, box or bag. They can also find links to each local council’s information pages, detailing where their kerbside recycling ends up.

Although Devon’s recycling rate is significantly higher than the national average of 43.7%, many recyclable items are still being placed in with the general waste. With these valuable materials being lost, we’re asking residents to rescue their recyclables this Recycle Week.

Councillor Ruth Williams, Chair of the Devon Authorities Strategic Waste Committee, said:

“Firstly, a huge thank you to the many residents in Devon who diligently sort and recycle their household waste. There is huge environmental value in recycling as much as possible and every item counts. We understand that some people may be hesitant to recycle if they don’t know what happens to it, so we hope that this information provides reassurance that recycling is worthwhile.”

Anyone wondering what happens to their recycling, where it goes and how it is turned into new products can find the answers at Recycle Devon.

To learn more about reducing, reusing and recycling, and to explore what happens to Devon’s recycling after collection, visit www.recycledevon.org.

Find out how to reuse or recycle items with Recycle Devon’s A to Z guide.