Local Democracy Reporter Ellie Brown took a look inside the new Sherbourne Resource Park Material Recycling Facility - the £58 million centre backed by Warwick District Council

Reduce, reuse, recycle. We're all taught the phrase at school. But what actually happens to the stuff after we put it in the (right coloured) bin?

Like most people I had no idea, despite doing my best to dutifully rinse out cans and flatten cardboard every week.

But that was before I went around Coventry's huge new recycling centre off London Road last week and saw for myself how it all works.

When I walk in it hits me just how much we throw away. The centre, which works to separate out different materials, is effectively a giant warren of conveyor belts.

The waste is separated into metals, glass, plastics and fibres and then further broken down before it's taken away to be turned into something new.

But while some of the tech is the same at centres across the UK, there are things that make the Sherbourne Recource Centre at Whitley unique.

First, the robots. These small machines dart back and forth above the conveyor belts, using air suction to make up to 70 picks per minute – nearly twice the amount that a human picker could do.

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The fleet of 14 bots use cutting edge artificial intelligence (AI) to do this and are still learning what to remove. They're 80 per cent of the way there now, I'm told.

Five human 'pickers' still work here, far less than you'd find at other sites.

The centre has about 40 job roles in total, but most are in more skilled areas away from the front lines.

And because of the different combinations of tech, the Sherbourne centre will be able to achieve purity rates of up to 99 per cent, a UK first.

This rate is set to be consistently achieved when the centre, which opened in August, is fully operational next year. It means that there won't be a need to ship less-pure material off to other countries.

Another difference is that the facility is owned by eight councils in the Midlands - including Warwick District Council - who have a 25 year partnership with it in place.

The idea for it emerged back in 2016 and has taken seven years to come to fruition. It's cost £58 million to build on an old allotments site by the Whitley depot.

But according to Sherbourne Recycling, the new plant will save councils from relying on the private sector – and its associated uncertainties – to deal with recycling.

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The new Sherbourne facility is backed by eight local councils including Warwick District Council (Image via LDRS)

Along with these positives, however, is the simple fact that people often put things in their recycling that shouldn't be there.

Weird things that have ended up in the Sherbourne centre include huge inflatable paddling pools, a bowling ball and a box of kittens – thankfully rescued and looked after.

Most are large items like wooden doors and metal wheelie bins, which people mistakenly believe can be recycled.

When I go around the facility I'm also shown a skip with large nitrous oxide cans in that have been recovered.

Then there are those who don't recycle or only do it occasionally – around 12 per cent of people in the UK, according to a 2021 survey.

But while many people make an effort, there's often confusion about what can be recycled or what goes in each bin.

And the most recent figures for Coventry, from 2021/22, showed less than a third of the city's household waste was recycled and composted below the average of 44% for England. .

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