March 2025

Latest news

More time to recycle at the recycling site

Recycling Sites will move to their summer opening hours from Tuesday 1 April.

All sites will remain open from 9am to 4pm on weekends. Midweek, sites will be open from 9am to 6pm. Opening days vary from site to site, check online before you visit.

Join the CAG Somerset Skillshare event in Bridgwater

CAG Somerset (Community Action Groups Somerset) is hosting its Repair, Reuse, Reimagine Skillshare event on Saturday 8 March. Celebrating National Repair Week, the event aims to inspire communities and share ideas.

The event is an opportunity to learn about reuse, repair and waste reduction as well as meet likeminded people. There will be talks and workshops with people who are working on waste reduction in the community.

Reuse

Another successful tech amnesty for DonateIT and Fixy

Smart tech donations

The Fixy team and partner, local charity DonateIT had another fantastic event at Frome Town Hall. In total, a tonne of devices, cables and accessories were donated at the beginning of February. Donations included 153 phones, 113 laptops, 60 tablets, 20 PC towers and 206kg of wires, cables and chargers.

More than 100 bikes given a second life thanks to reuse initiative

Houman and Duncan at On Your Bike

Together with SUEZ (our collections contractor), we have been able to pass more than 100 bikes to local charity On Your Bike. The bikes collected as part of resident’s bulky waste collections are donated to On Your Bike.

On Your Bike helps people to learn new skills, this includes individuals who may have suffered social exclusion, have a disability, mental health problems, or ex-offenders as well as many others who have faced disadvantages.

The On Your Bike team, happily refurbish the bikes or use them for parts. Donating these bikes helps to extend their usable life, making the service more environmentally friendly while also helping many people within the local community.

Through On Your Bike’s, Earn a Bike scheme, Houman benefitted from learning how to refurbish a bike donated via the bulky collection service. During the two-day course he completely disassembled a bike before cleaning and rebuilding the bicycle so that it is fully usable once more.

When asked about the course, Houman, a refugee from Iran, said: “The course has been excellent and helped me with many things, I have a bicycle that I can use to explore the area and help me find a job.

“The course let me improve my English with many conversations, I have met many people and now also volunteer at the shop, so I have lots to occupy me whilst I await my decision from home office.”

Celebrating learning valuable repair skills

Schoolchildren in Somerset have been getting hands-on with fixing, following taking part in Team Repair skills sessions. Children from Sexey's School in Bruton have been the first to take part learning how to repair a microscope, games console, torch and a remote-control car and explore the science behind the gadgets.

Students have been given this opportunity thanks to the backing Somerset Council and SUEZ’s SW:EEP fund. The fund, provides ring-fenced income from the sale of recyclable materials to support projects that reduce waste and benefit the community.

Electronic waste is one of the largest contributors to climate change. Every year 103,000 tonnes of e-waste is thrown away in the UK – the equivalent to 8.5 million microwaves.

Laura Turnbull, Senior House Parent, Sexey’s School said: “The idea of receiving a broken gadget, learning new skills to fix it and then putting the gadget to use has been really exciting for our boarders. Team Repair has helped our boarders to learn some valuable fixing skills and a lot of patience.”

Get it sorted!

Microwaves cannot be collected with kerbside recycling

Microwaves can’t be accepted for recycling with your small electrical kerbside collection. Following a change in the law they are now categorised differently, making them hazardous waste.

However, microwaves that no longer work should still be recycled and this can be done at any of our recycling sites or as part of a bulky waste collection.

Other drop off points can be found in the Recycle Your Electricals locator, including ‘High Street’ stores. Just pop in your postcode and then enter the type of electrical item you have to find a drop off point near you.

If your microwave still works, you can pass it on for reuse, consider offering on sites such as Gumtree, Freegle or Facebook Marketplace. Some charities also accept electricals for resale.

Remember, if you have any other small household electricals (such as a hairdryer or toaster), these can be collected with your weekly recycling. Electricals should be placed in an untied carrier bag and left next to, or on top of your recycling box. Please note, we cannot accept TVs or monitors.

Food waste action week, returns 17 – 23 March

Of all the food waste in the UK, 60% comes from our homes, costing families £1,000 a year on average. An incredible 50% of all the potatoes we buy are thrown away!

Do you ever buy big packs of fruit and veg and then end up throwing some of the pack away? If you do, then you’re not alone. Every year in the UK we throw away 1.7 million tonnes of fruit and veg.

We buy too much and then don’t get around to eating it in time. Research from Love Food Hate Waste has shown that if all apples, bananas and potatoes were sold loose, 8.2 million shopping baskets worth of food waste could be prevented every year. And that’s simply because when fruit and veg is sold loose, you can buy the amount that you need and can use. Buying your fruit and veg loose also means that you can choose the quality that you prefer too – a slightly greener banana, one rosy, red apple or the perfect potatoes for jackets!

So, why not give it a try? Buy Loose, Waste Less. Find out more, including recipes for leftovers at Love Food Hate Waste.

Please help to keep our pavements clear

To help everyone easily access our streets, we ask residents to please take care not to obstruct pavements or roads. It is also helpful if you can bring your bins, boxes and bags back in as soon as possible after collection. Unless you have an assisted collection, containers should be at the edge of your property by 7am on your collection day and no earlier than the night before.

Reminder, clocks spring forward on Sunday 30 March

On Sunday 30 March clocks go forward by one hour, a good excuse to check smoke detectors, batteries, bulbs, and plugs. All electrical items, low-energy bulbs with unbroken glass and batteries can go to recycling sites.

With kerbside recycling, put out small electrical items in carrier-size bags, and household batteries in small clear bags.