Do you know where the rubbish from your bin collection goes in North Yorkshire?

You might assume it all goes to landfill, as it did historically, but since March 2018 all household rubbish in North Yorkshire goes to Allerton Waste Recovery Park, which is off the A1 near Knaresborough.

So even if you are in Scarborough, Skipton or Stokesley, your rubbish goes to the same place.

The facility employs 90 local people and can process 320,000 tonnes of waste each year from York and North Yorkshire households. Through a combination of three technologies, it is reducing the amount of household rubbish being sent to landfill by at least 90%.

Here’s how it does it:

• The mechanical treatment plant receives general rubbish mainly originating from household bins (not recycling bins) and removes any remaining metal and plastics for recycling.
• The anaerobic digestion plant treats the organic waste part and produces a biogas, which generates renewable electricity.
• The energy from waste plant burns the waste that remains after separation of the recyclables and treatment of organic waste, producing steam to feed an electricity generating turbine that produces enough electricity to supply about 40,000 homes.

 Landfill is only used for waste that is not suitable for treatment.

The visitor and education centre is open to individuals, educational and community groups. If getting to the centre is an issue, the education officer can come to you or offer a virtual tour and talk.

Find out more about Allerton Waste Recovery Park and book a visit.