Drinks cartons can be recycled by utilising its components together (to make chipboard) or by utilising each material separately (recycling the paper and energy recovery from the poly ethylene and aluminium).

1. Energy recovery incineration
2. Manufacture of chipboard from crushed waste
3. Separation of drinks carton components (paper, polyethylene and aluminium)

Plastic recycling to make plastic bags, urban furniture, signage and so on or to obtain new packaging for non-foodstuffs (bleach, detergents).

There are two possible types of recycling for plastics:

1. Mechanical recycling: Packaging is sorted, crushed and melted into granules. The materials are modified to give them the desired properties. Thus a new material is obtained for applications with recycled products.
2. Chemical recycling: Chemical recovery enables plastics to be reduced to their basic chemical constituents (monomers). These recovered materials can be re-polymerised and made into plastics again.

In the case of biodegradable plastic, still a small minority, recycling would be organic through photodegradability and biodegradability.