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Sorted!
Waste news
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Collections will be a day later for the rest of the week, following yesterday's bank holiday. If your collection is usually on a Friday, then it will move to Saturday 5 September.
Don’t forget, by squashing, crushing or flattening your recycling, you can make more space in your boxes and bag. This also helps to reduce the number of trips crews need to make to empty their vehicles.
Image courtesy of Getty images - xphotoz
Throughout September, Somerset’s recycling sites will accept a maximum of one fridge, freezer or other cooling appliance per household. The temporary limit is due to a national shortage of specialist recycling capacity. If you can safely store your appliance, please delay your visit or use a retailer take-back or reuse scheme. Proof of Somerset residency will be required.
There’s still time for Somerset children aged 4 to 11 to enter our food recycling short story competition and put their imagination to work.
About the competition
Run in partnership with SUEZ and Biffa, the competition invites 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.”
The competition is designed to inspire children and their families to recycle more food waste. Around 7 in 10 people in Somerset already recycle their food waste, but food still makes up about 21% of the average household rubbish bin by weight.
When food waste is recycled, it can be turned into green energy and fertiliser instead of going to waste.
Prizes
- 1 winner will receive a £30 book voucher.
- 5 runners up will get a £15 book voucher.
- 1 participating Somerset school will also receive a £200 book voucher, thanks to support from Biffa.
How to enter
Entries must be submitted by 14 September 2026. Full details and terms and conditions are available on our food recycling webpage.
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Image courtesy of Unsplash - Merylove Art
It’s back to school season and using a repair group could be a great way to bring a new lease of life to some essentials. Local repair groups may be able to help with small fixes such as sewing on buttons, mending bags or uniform, replacing a zip, or looking at items like bikes and small electricals that need a bit of attention.
This year, Recycle Week returns from 14 to 20 September.
In Somerset, one of the biggest opportunities to rescue waste from the bin is food waste recycling. Fruit and vegetable peelings, leftovers, tea bags and even small bones can all go in your food waste caddy.
This Recycle Week, why not try a few simple recycling wins?
- Use your food waste caddy for all unavoidable food scraps.
- Recycle empty aerosols, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays in your kerbside recycling bright blue bag.
- Scrunch clean kitchen foil into a tennis ball-sized ball before recycling.
- Keep batteries and small electrical items out of the bin and recycle them separately to reduce the risk of fires.
- Check whether items can be repaired or reused before throwing them away.
Every item rescued from the rubbish bin helps save valuable materials and supports Somerset's efforts to reduce waste. Remember to take a second look before you throw something in the bin – it might be ready for a new life instead.
Community groups from across East Somerset recently came together to share ideas and explore new ways of working together to reduce waste, repair more and support local communities. The event highlighted successful projects ranging from repair cafés and skill-sharing workshops to paint reuse schemes and public mending sessions.
If you'd like to get involved in local repair and reuse activities, find out more through CAG Somerset and discover groups and events happening across the county.
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A limited number of tickets remain to join SUEZ during the Heritage Open Day weekends. Learn about recycling in Somerset with an informative guided tour of either:
- Taunton Material Recycling Facility on Saturday 12 September
- Evercreech Material Recycling Facility on Saturday 19 September
These tours are an exclusive opportunity to safely see the facilities which are not usually open to the public. Tours are only available by pre-booking.
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Image courtesy of Getty images - ironstuff
If you own or run a business with fewer than 10 employees, you’ll soon need to make sure your waste collections follow the new Simpler Recycling rules.
A change in law means that from April 2027, micro businesses also need to comply with the changes that came in for other organisations in April 2025.
We’ve been encouraging everyone to recycle their food waste because it’s better for the environment and cheaper for us to process. Thank you to everyone who has shared their food recycling tips with us. Using your help and the tips shared, we wanted to bust some common food recycling myths!
Your experiences show that it can quickly become an easy part of the weekly routine, while helping to keep the main rubbish bin cleaner and less full.
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 Did you know that we’ve partnered with Anglo Doorstep Collections? Making it easy for you to donate unwanted items from your doorstep!
Instead of throwing usable items away, you can book a free collection and help support charities while giving pre-loved items a second life.
Items accepted include:
- Clothing and shoes
- Books
- DVDs and CDs
- Toys and games
- Soft toys and teddies
- LEGO and building blocks
- Household textiles
- Small household items
Soft toys can be donated from your doorstep too!
Anglo Doorstep Collections accepts soft toys and teddies that are clean, in good condition and ready to be loved again. Rather than ending up in the bin, donated soft toys can be reused, helping reduce waste while bringing comfort and joy to children and families.
Read more with Donate Soft Toys.
Check the full list of accepted items and book a collection on the Anglo Doorstep Collections website.
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