Beyond the green box: what happens to your recycling?

A truck unloads waste at Greenstar Recycling facility at Aldridge near Walsall Photograph: David Sillitoe

As recently as 2000, as much as 90% of UK waste was sent to landfill. Now it is just below 60% Photograph: David Sillitoe

Plastic bottles sell for around £50 for 300kg. Landfill gate fees for dumping rubbish are £50-60 per tonne Photograph: David Sillitoe ~/David Sillitoe

'We see all this as a commodity, not waste,' says Mick Davis, development director at the plant Photograph: David Sillitoe

The plant recycles 500-600 tonnes of material a day, around 4% of the UK's total Photograph: David Sillitoe

If material is dirty upon arrival at the plant, it is sent to landfill Photograph: David Sillitoe

Chinese demand for high-quality paper is rising once again as stockpiles have been exhausted Photograph: David Sillitoe

Plastic bottles ready to be recycled Photograph: David Sillitoe

Picker dividing the recycled material into groups Photograph: David Sillitoe

Workers pick over recycled materials at Greenstar Photograph: David Sillitoe

The UK produces 2m tonnes of cardboard boxes a year Photograph: David Sillitoe

Recycled paper sells at £50-£55 per tonne. "The Chinese buy paper in huge volume, and have been outbidding us,' says Chris Allen, CEO of Smurfit Kappa Paper UK Photograph: David Sillitoe