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Sorted!
Waste news
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 We need you to help avoid a major incident. In the past three weeks we have had three fires at our Material Recovery Facility, which have started following a gas canister being thrown into the bright blue recycling bag.
Gas canisters can’t be recycled or disposed of with your kerbside waste
We’re finding that gas canisters are being put with other metals in the bright blue bag, which is not sorted until back at the depot. Crews are not always able to see if a canister has been placed in the bag.
Do not put them out for collection, they are a fire risk when going through our sorting process. This means they get crushed, sparking an explosion.
All gas canisters should be taken to your local recycling site. Small canisters (camp stoves for example) can be disposed of for free.
How are they different from aerosols?
Gas canisters in the blue bag or bin pose a danger to our crews - they are more likely to ignite if crushed because the cans are under a higher pressure.
Aerosols (deodorant, hairspray etc.) contain a smaller amount of ignitable gas and the bottles are under less pressure, meaning they do not pose the same danger as gas cans. Empty aerosols can still be recycled via the bright blue bag.
Your updated collections calendar will soon be landing on your doorstep. If you have a kerbside collection, we’ll be providing a new calendar alongside a new look guide to food waste recycling.
Did you know, around 7 in 10 households recycle their food waste? But we know lots is still missed and ends up in our rubbish bins.
We want to encourage everyone to recycle their food waste, whether it’s adding the small bits that sometimes get missed to your recycling - like the odd tea bag, or to start recycling if you don’t already.
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When we talk about food waste we don’t just mean plate scrapings, out of date food or the stuff that’s thrown out before its packaging has been opened (yes, this happens more often than you think)!
Food waste includes both the avoidable and unavoidable – unavoidable waste incudes the bits you wouldn’t normally eat. Onion peelings, egg shells, bones from meat and avocado stones are all examples of unavoidable food waste.
We’re asking everyone to think before they throw. You may think you're a food waste recycler, but the average Somerset household throws the equivalent to 58 loaves of bread (or 46kg) in the rubbish bin every year!
If you need a replacement kitchen caddy or food recycling bin you can order a new one online.
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Image courtesy of Oliver Olah
Picnic season is here! The summer sun is the perfect opportunity to get outside and enjoy the many beauty spots of our county, but there are many ways that you can make the most of your trip and keep it sustainable. Remember to always clean up afterwards, leave nothing behind and take home your packaging to recycle.
Community Action Groups Somerset is a support organisation for local community groups that are involved in initiatives which have a positive impact on waste, even if that is not their primary function.
Local members of CAG Somerset network include community repair and reuse groups which help extend the life of our stuff, and food pantries and community fridges which help divert surplus food to reduce food waste.
CAG Somerset is eager to help more community groups in their waste action aims.
In the last year volunteers in the groups have:
- Put in 14,500 hours of time – valued at £234,000
- Saved 51,000kg of food from going to waste
- Swapped 65,200kg of items
- Seen 28,500 participants in group activities.
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 Fixy will be continuing its tour of Somerset, promoting all things repair and reuse. The team will also be collecting your pre-loved smart tech. The team can accept anything digital from smart watches and tablets to games consoles. For a full list visit the Fixy webpage.
Fixy dates:
Event
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Location
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Date
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Time
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Tech Amnesty in partnership with Cheddar Repair Café
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Methodist Church Hall, Cliff Street, Cheddar, BS27 3RA
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Saturday, 12 July 2025
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10am to midday
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Watchet Carnival Fayre
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Memorial Ground, Govier's Lane, Watchet, TA23 0ER
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Sunday, 27 July 2025
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Midday to 5pm
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Watchet Summertime
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Details TBC
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Thursday, 21 August 2025
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Details TBC
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Please make sure your device is unlocked (not password protected), and any Apple devices are removed from the owner’s iCloud account. This helps donations be reused.
Computer monitors, TVs, display screens and printers are not accepted. You can offer these for reuse at online sites like Freegle (see our website for some local groups) or take to your local recycling site.
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The cartons we collect for recycling from the kerbside are all reprocessed here in the UK.
Baled cartons are dropped into a pulper, which resembles a giant food mixer. They are pulped with water for around 20 minutes, which delaminates the packaging, breaking it down into a slurry.
The different layers of material are then separated, and the fibre is recycled at a paper mill to manufacture coreboard, which is used to make cores and tubes for a variety of industrial applications.
What are cartons made of?
On average, drinks cartons are made of 75% wood fibre – which is easily recycled, 4% aluminium – which helps to keep drinks fresh, and 21% polymers – thin layers of polythene to prevent leaks.
Recycle your cartons
49 tonnes of cartons were collected from our kerbsides last year.
Please remember to rinse, flatten, put the lid back on (if it has one), and add to your green recycling box.
School holidays are a great time for children to relax and enjoy themselves, but you may be searching for ways to keep the young people in your life entertained!
We’ve got a list of activities that promote sustainability and environmental awareness. Here are some fantastic ideas to make the school holidays both fun and educational.
Heading into the summer season, very hot periods can mean we allow crews to start earlier to minimise the time crews spend working in the hottest parts of the day.
Look out for hot weather warnings issued via the news and social media, and if you want to be sure not to miss an early start, put your bins, boxes and bags out before you go to bed the night before.
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