Commodity Recycling

Increase recycling rates and reduce costs with tailored solutions for your commercial waste

Our recycling services

At Recycling Lives Services, we treat sorted recyclables as recycled commodities rather than general waste. By separating materials such as cardboard, paper, plastics, metals, wood and textiles, we help your organisation turn everyday waste streams into quality-assured recycled materials that have real value in UK and international markets.

What Commodity Recycling Means for Your Business

Commodity recycling is the process of separating and managing high-value, recyclable materials from your commercial waste so they can be processed and sold back into the market. Instead of paying to dispose of everything as general waste, we help you capture and control these recycled commodities across your sites.

For your business, that means:

Less residual waste sent for disposal
More material captured for reuse as recycled materials in new products and packaging
Clearer evidence of environmental performance to support your ESG and compliance goals

Recycled Commodities We Handle

Cardboard and paper – boxes, outer packaging, printed materials and office paper, managed through cardboard and paper recycling solutions.

Plastics – films, rigid plastics and a wide range of polymers, from common household plastics to more complex industrial grades.

Metals – tins, cans, offcuts and redundant metal items; we help you recycle metals safely and in line with regulations.

Wood – pallets, crates and timber offcuts, captured through wood recycling routes rather than being treated as general waste.

Textiles and PPE – corporate clothing, hi-vis, safety footwear, helmets and other protective equipment, processed through secure textile recycling.

By separating these commodities at source, we support commercial waste recycling programmes that deliver better value and more reliable environmental performance.

Our Recycling Services

At Recycling Lives Services, we can arrange the recycling of most commodities including paper, plastic, cardboard, metals, wood and more. Our waste management solutions ensure all materials that can be recycled, are recycled.

This is done by:

Managing waste contracts across the country with nationwide coverage and multiple recycling sites
Recycling and processing all material types
Guaranteeing the best price available through our trusted network of reprocessors

We design recycling programmes around your waste streams, installing equipment for improved operational efficiencies, increasing revenues from commodities and achieving high recycling rates.

How Our Commodity Recycling Process Works

We design commodity recycling around your operations, from first collection to final reprocessing:

Assessing your sites and waste streams

We review the materials your sites produce, current segregation practices, and existing contracts. This allows us to identify where cardboard, paper, plastics, metals, wood and textiles can be separated as recycled commodities rather than going into general waste.

Setting up on-site separation and equipment

We recommend and install the right equipment, such as compactors, balers, skips and labelled containers, and train your teams to use them safely. This improves operational efficiencies and supports higher recycling rates across your sites.

Collections and transport across the UK

With a nationwide network of sites, skips and containers of all sizes, and a large fleet of vehicles, we manage collections for full and part loads. Where appropriate, we combine collections from multiple clients to minimise emissions while keeping service reliable.

Processing, sorting and quality control

On arrival at our facilities, materials are weighed on visible weighbridges and scales, sorted, processed and, where required, fragmentised or baled. We record all our processes in high definition, from weighing to processing, and can provide footage to support your audit and compliance needs.

Recycled materials back to market

Commodities are sent to trusted UK and international reprocessors. Cardboard and paper return to market as new fibre-based products, plastics are turned into pellets, metals are refined for reuse, and textile waste is converted into new fibre-based materials.

Why Businesses Choose Our Commodity Recycling Service

Operational efficiency and control

Our tailored approach is built around your operations. By assessing your waste streams and installing equipment such as compactors and balers, we help you keep commodities separate, reduce unnecessary vehicle movements and run cleaner, safer yards and back-of-house areas.

Financial performance

Commodity recycling helps you improve revenues from recyclables and reduce the amount of waste that needs to be disposed of as general residual waste. Working with large quantities of waste commodities allows us to negotiate the very best price with our reprocessing partners, which we then pass on to our clients through secure rebate models and same-day payments where applicable.

Compliance, brand protection and ESG

For complete transparency, we have visible weights on all our weighbridges and scales and record all our processes in high definition, from weighing to processing. We can provide you with footage of your recycling to ensure total compliance and to support internal and external reporting. Secure destruction facilities help protect your brand when dealing with branded goods, textiles and PPE.

Cardboard, Plastic and PPE

Commodity recycling looks different for each material. Three of the most common streams we manage at scale are cardboard, plastics and PPE/textiles.

Cardboard Recycling – How It Works

Recycling Lives Services offers bespoke services for cardboard waste recycling. We ensure cardboard is fully recycled and never sent to landfill or used as waste to energy – collecting and recycling thousands of tonnes of cardboard every year for major retailers.

You can expect:

Guaranteed closed-loop recycling to return recycled cardboard to market
Secure rebates to generate revenues from commodities
Supplied compactors and balers for clients’ cardboard disposal on-site

A practical, site-specific approach to commodity recycling

Our tailored services for cardboard collection and recycling include assessing your waste streams, installing equipment for improved operational efficiencies, increasing revenues from commodities and achieving high recycling rates. We can integrate cardboard and paper recycling into wider commodity recycling programmes so that fibre-based materials are managed together where appropriate.

Recycle where you want

Choose where to recycle your cardboard – whether on-site or at our facilities. We can recommend, install and train your team to operate bespoke equipment at your sites, to improve efficiencies for cardboard disposal. We have implemented compactors and balers for clients so cardboard recycling can begin on-site. We also manage cardboard collection nationwide, ahead of processing and recycling at our dedicated facilities.

A trusted partner

We are trusted by major retailers to manage their cardboard recycling. Working with large quantities of waste cardboard allows us to negotiate the very best price for rebates, with access to UK and international markets and reprocessors – we then pass these rebates on to our clients.

Plastic Recycling

Recycling Lives Services plastic recycling services ensure all materials that can be recycled, are recycled. We work with clients to understand the value of techniques to improve plastic waste recycling, from implementing separation techniques to understanding legislation.

Our services include:

Processing all types of recyclable plastic, from common to complex polymers
Improving operational efficiencies to increase recycle rates for plastic waste
Guaranteeing closed-loop recycling to return recycled plastics to market

We build plastic recycling and disposal solutions around your operational needs, installing equipment for improved operational efficiencies and achieving high recycle rates to return recycled plastic to market as quality-assured recycled materials.

What plastics can be recycled?

We recycle all common polymers, including PVC, PET, HDPE, LDPE, PP and PS. We are also able to recycle complex plastics, such as PA, PC, ABS, PC-ABS, POM and more. Following processing through our fragmentiser, to separate composite materials, all types of recyclable plastics are melted down and transformed into plastic pellets by a trusted partner company. These pellets can then be used to create new plastic products.

With a nationwide network of sites, skips and containers of all sizes, and a large fleet of skip wagons, ROROs and artics, we can manage the plastic recycling process across the UK. We can arrange full- and part-load collections – where appropriate, combining these with collections from other clients to minimise emissions – ready to be recycled at our facilities ahead of reprocessing.

PPE and Textile Recycling

Recycling Lives Services’ unique textile recycling services specialise in the secure destruction and recycling of corporate clothing and all associated PPE such as safety helmets, gloves, eye protection, high-visibility clothing, safety footwear and safety harnesses.

We:

Recycle fabric waste through a secure, audited process, working to have your old textiles reworked into a brand-new fibre, reducing textile waste sent to landfill.
Guarantee a secure, audited textile recycling process for corporate apparel.
Create a new Waste Processed Fibre (WPF) with a wide range of applications including mattress fillings, felts, sound and heat insulation.

This provides brand protection and assurance that branded uniforms and safety equipment are taken out of circulation responsibly.

Reporting, Transparency and Customer Portal

We know that decision-makers need clear evidence of what happens to recycled commodities once they leave site.

To support this, we:

Use visible weighbridges and calibrated scales so you can see accurate weights at the point of transfer.
Record the recycling process in high-definition, from weighing through to processing, and can provide footage for your audit trail.
Offer a bespoke customer portal so you can follow the process from collection to recycling, with access to data on loads, weights, materials, dates and sites.

This level of transparency helps you demonstrate that your commercial waste recycling and commodity recycling programmes are delivering the outcomes you expect.

Who We Work With

We manage commodity recycling for organisations of all sizes, from single-site businesses to national networks. Our clients include major retailers, logistics and distribution operators, manufacturers, facilities management providers and public sector bodies.

By managing waste contracts across the country with nationwide coverage and multiple recycling sites, we support businesses that need consistent commodity recycling across multiple regions and locations, backed by dedicated account managers and a sales support team to handle day-to-day account management for account customers.

Discover our full range of services

Commodity Recycling FAQs

Which recycled commodities can you handle from our sites?

We can manage a wide range of recycled commodities, including cardboard, paper, plastics, metals, wood and textiles such as corporate clothing and PPE. During an initial review, we will look at your waste streams and identify which materials can be separated and treated as recycled materials, and which need to remain in general or specialist waste.

Do you publish prices or rebate rates for recycled commodities?

We do not publish a public price list, as commodity values can change based on markets, material quality and volumes. Instead, we agree a transparent rebate structure with each client, based on the recycled commodities you produce, and pass through value secured from our UK and international reprocessing partners.

How do you make sure materials are recycled and not diverted to disposal?

We work with audited reprocessors in the UK and abroad and can provide evidence of the end destinations for your commodities so you can show that your recycled materials are being managed in line with your policies.

Can you manage commodity recycling for multiple sites and regions?

Yes. We manage collections and contracts for multi-site and national clients, coordinating equipment, collections and reporting across each site. Our customer portal and reporting tools allow you to see performance at individual site level as well as across your full estate.

Do you handle complex plastics, metals and other mixed materials?

We process all common plastics and a wide range of complex polymers, along with mixed materials that may need fragmentising before they can be recycled. We also help you recycle metals from packaging, production and redundant equipment, and can advise on the best way to separate and present these commodities so they achieve the best possible outcome at reprocessing.

Other Total Waste Management Services

Some of the people we work with

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Learn more about industry-leading platform – advanced reporting capabilities through our bespoke, online customer portal. Tracks the complete waste management journey from collection to disposal. Includes multi-layered diversion data and enhanced carbon impact reports.

Why work with us

British Gas

“Our relationship with Recycling Lives spans more than 6 years starting with our first load in 2016.

We send scrap and waste material including copper, brass, ferrous metal and more they also handle our hazardous waste such as oil and aerosols. We honestly like everything about Recycling Lives, their people are dedicated to what they do, work hard and are exceptionally friendly to deal with. Their attitude to work and charity is inspirational. Long may our partnership continue.”

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Why work with us

British Telecom

“BT and Recycling Lives have a long established relationship stretching back over 15 years.

We were looking to ensure we met and exceeded all of our environmental and waste targets and goals. To enable us to achieve this, we needed to work with the right partners that carry the same values and provide us with solutions we need in an ever change environment. Recycling Lives have continuously demonstrated their ability to deliver, always willing to go that extra mile when needed, and have built a trust within BT that our waste is in safe hands. We will continue to work with Recycling Lives in the future.”

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