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Sorted!
Waste news
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Kate Oliver from the SAW team with children from Priddy and St Lawrence Federation Schools
Schools Against Waste has reached a brilliant milestone, completing its 500th visit to a Somerset school. The special visit took place at Priddy and St Lawrence’s Federation school, marking another step in the programme’s work to help children learn about waste, recycling and caring for the environment.
Good news for gardeners – most non-black plastic plant pots can now be recycled from home in Somerset.
The change follows the introduction of new national Simpler Recycling rules, which aim to make recycling collections more consistent across England. Somerset residents can now place non-black plastic plant pots in their Bright Blue Bag alongside other plastic pots, tubs and trays.
Before recycling, plant pots should be emptied and reasonably clean. Black plastic plant pots cannot currently be recycled through kerbside collections and should be reused where possible or placed in the rubbish bin. Black plant pots can’t be recycled because the black pigment they contain is not recognised by optical sorting machines. These should continue to be reused where possible, and if not, placed in the rubbish bin.
Reusing plant pots is always the best option, and many local garden centres offer plant pot swap areas. Residents can also take plastic plant pots to Somerset recycling sites for recycling.
 Somerset children aged 4 to 11 are being invited to put their imagination to work in a food recycling short story writing competition.
Run in partnership with SUEZ and Biffa, the competition encourages children to write a short story of up to 500 words on the theme “The Great Somerset Food Recycling Adventure – a story competition to save the planet, one peel at a time.”
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It's Plastic Free July, a great time to take a fresh look at the everyday plastic we use and see where small, simple changes could help. You don’t have to be perfect or change everything at once. Choosing one or two easy swaps can still help cut down on single-use plastics and may become a habit that lasts well beyond July.
CAG Somerset supports community groups across the county that help reduce waste through repair, reuse, sharing, surplus food projects and composting. The network is celebrating the launch of a new Repair Café serving North Petherton and surrounding villages, which held its first successful session in June. Repair groups help residents give broken household items a new lease of life, learn new skills and connect with their local community.
More repair events are already planned, giving residents the chance to bring along items such as small electricals, furniture and clothing for repair by skilled volunteers. Read the full story and find out more about the project on the CAG Somerset website.
Find out more about repair groups and a list of groups from across Somerset on our repair groups webpage.
Looking for fresh ideas on how to make a positive difference in your community? Join author and campaigner Anthea Lawson for a free online talk and discussion on 22 July, 7pm to 8.30pm.
Drawing on interviews with more than 200 activists, campaigners and community builders, Anthea will explore how we can engage more people, build stronger communities and create positive change together.
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 What to do with food recycling in the hot weather?
We appreciate it's not the best weather to store food recycling, but there are some things that can be done to help:
- Use the food waste bin’s handle to keep it locked – depending on the type this will be to either pulling the handle forward or lifting it up.
- Keep food waste bin lids closed to reduce smells and pests.
- Store bins in a shaded area where possible.
- Line caddies with newspaper or compostable liners.
- Empty your kitchen caddy more frequently (every 2-3 days).
- Clean caddies regularly to keep them hygienic.
- Freeze food waste until collection day to help prevent odours and flies. Bag up food waste first, a tub could also be used to store bagged food waste in the freezer ready for recycling.
If you subscribe to the garden waste collection service, you may soon receive an email renewal notice. However, there’s no need to wait for your notification before you renew.
The simplest way to renew your subscription is online, visit our garden waste collection webpage.
You can also follow the link to check when your subscription is due, or sign up as a new subscriber.
If you provide an email address, we’ll email you a renewal notice in the month before your subscription is due.
Due to the high costs of postage and administration, we no longer post renewal notification letters. We recommend making a note in your calendar or diary ahead of your garden waste subscription expiry date.
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 We need you to help avoid a major incident. 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.
Please 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.
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 canisters are under a higher pressure.
Aerosols (deodorant, hairspray etc.) contain a smaller amount of ignitable gas and the aerosol bottles are under less pressure, meaning they do not pose the same danger as gas canisters. Empty aerosols can still be recycled via the bright blue bag.
They may be easy to overlook, but batteries and vapes can cause serious fires when they end up in the wrong bin. Lithium batteries can ignite if they are crushed or damaged, putting collection crews, recycling site staff and the public at risk. They can also cause costly damage and disruption to services.
That is why batteries and vapes should never be put in your rubbish bin or mixed in with recycling. They should be placed separately in small, clear tied plastic bags and left on top of your recycling box for collection.
Alternatively, both batteries and vapes can be taken to our Recycling Sites or returned to any shop that sells either item. Check the Recycle Your Electricals website for more details.
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