Facilities

20 Household Waste Recycling Centres

Our Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) are available for Greater Manchester residents to recycle, donate or dispose of their unwanted household items. Trade waste is NOT accepted at the HWRC sites.

Residents wishing to use their own or a hired van to access the HWRCs must apply for a van permit.

Aerial view of a Household Waste Recycling Centre View of containers at a Household Waste Recycling Centre View of containers and parking spaces at a Household Waste Recycling Centre

Reliance Street HWRC redevelopment

The Reliance St recycling centre will be redeveloped to bring it into line with the other 19 sites across Greater Manchester. This will offer a wider range of recycling opportunities and an improved layout which will allow easier access to containers and cages, it will also ensure that the site does not need to be closed when full containers are swapped with empty ones.

The redevelopment will also provide an opportunity to install a Renew shop which sells pre-loved household items at affordable prices.

Now that we’ve had the planning application approved, GMCA will tender and appoint a suitable contractor and will start work in Spring 2024. The recycling centre will have to close for 9-12 months while the construction work is undertaken.

A CGI rendered image of the new recycling centre layout from an aerial view

8 Transfer Loading Stations

The Transfer Loading Stations are used by the nine district councils to bring household waste and recycling for processing.

Trade and business waste can also be delivered here. For information on trade waste, visit Recycle for Greater Manchester.

4 Mechanical Treatment and Reception Facilities

The Mechanical Treatment and Reception Facilities are used to process non-recyclable household waste. Waste is shredded and compacted before it is loaded onto a train, which takes it to the Energy Recovery Facility at Runcorn to be incinerated. The heat and steam generated is used to power the INOVYN facility.

An aerial view of the Mechanical Treatment and Reception Facilities at Bredbury.

A Materials Recovery Facility

The Materials Recovery Facility separates plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, foil, food tins, drinks cans and aerosols. It is then bulked up and bailed ready for the recycling process.

Mixed recycling speeds past on a conveyer belt inside the Materials Recovery Facility A recycling operative in hi-vis loads bales of compacted aluminium cans onto a pallet

Paper and card

Paper and card is deposited in the tipping hall, where it is bailed and then delivered to the Saica paper mill in Trafford for recycling.

A group of school children stand in front of a large pile of paper and card in the tipping hall Close up of a pile of paper and card with group of visitors in hi-vis jackets standing in the background

An Energy Recovery Facility

Household waste goes by rail to Viridor's Energy Recovery Facility at Runcorn which turns the waste into energy used to power the INOVYN facility. By using the heat and power from the facility, INOVYN now takes around 20% less energy from the National Grid.

The Raikes Lane Energy from Waste facility takes household waste from Bolton to be turned into energy.

An aerial view of the Energy Recovery Facility in Runcorn

Education Centre and Solar Farm

We have three education centre where we welcome visits from local schools, community groups and industry professionals to go behind the scenes at the MRF and the Renew Hub. We also offer tours around our Solar Farm in Bolton.

The solar farm was built in 2015. This 2.8 hectare site has 8400 individual solar panels, and has the ability to generate 2.1 MW of electricity. The power generated is used on-site and exported to the national grid.

An aerial view of a large network of solar panels at the Bolton Solar Farm The classroom at the education centre, with tables and chairs, large television screens and decorative wallpaper A row of wall-mounted iPads and headphones and a large television screen at the education centre

Closed Landfill sites

We manage four closed landfill sites, ensuring appropriate controls are in place to mitigate harm to people, property and the environment.

Maintenance Activities include:

Management and monitoring Leachate and gas
Methane Stripping Plant (MSP) operation
Surface and boundary management
Delivery of landfill capital projects