What steps are being taken to ensure that recyclable waste in Hackney is being dealt with appropriately. Background: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/18/uk-recycling-industry-under-investigation-for-and-corruption

The London Borough of Hackney in its capacity as a waste collection authority is a constituent borough of the North London Waste Authority (NLWA). NLWA is responsible for the disposal of household and commercial residual waste collected by seven London Boroughs (Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest). The arrangements for the sorting and processing of recyclable waste collected in Hackney are managed by NLWA. Mixed recyclable waste from Hackney is sent to the Bywaters materials recycling facility (MRF) at Bow and to the Biffa materials recycling facility (MRF) at Edmonton.

Regarding the end destinations for dry recycling materials such as plastics, the end destinations for these will vary over time dependent on global markets, but predominantly the end destinations are in the UK (we use two MRFs for sorting north London’s material – Biffa and Bywaters in Bow). We have recently included a statement on our website which is available here about what happens to the material that is sorted for recycling: http://nlwa.gov.uk/news/statement-on-end-destination-of-recyclable-materials/
More details of where the materials go to is also available here: http://wiseuptowaste.org.uk/recycle/what-happens-to-my-recycling/ “