1. Nearly all household plastic bottles can recycled! STAGE 1 - Deposited STAGE 2 - Collected STAGE 7 - Used STAGE 3 - Sorted STAGE 4 - Squashed STAGE 6 - Granulated STAGE 5 – Squashed again! Click on each stage to find out more!

2. Plastic bottles are deposited in the recycling banks. What is happening here?

3. They are collected from the recycling banks and transported to a MATERIALS RECLAMATION FACILITY (MRF). What is happening here?

4. The bottles are sorted into different types of plastic. What is happening here?

5. Bottles are squashed into tightly packed blocks. What is happening here?

6. Powerful bailing machines squash the air out of the bottles to make them easier to transport. What is happening here?

7. The plastic is then transported to a reprocessing factory where it is granulated (made into small pieces or flakes). What is happening here?

8. The granulated flakes of plastic are then made into new products such as garden furniture, fleece jackets, pipes and coat hangers.