Cartons and TetraPaks packaging will no longer be accepted at Somerset household waste recycling centres due to large volumes being collected at the kerbside.
Cartons and similar items have been collected as part of weekly recycling pick-ups as part of the Recycle More scheme, which finished rolling out across Somerset in early-2022. .
Somerset Council has now announced their 16 sites will stop accepting cartons and TetraPaks from Monday 12th June – meaning all such items will have to be recycled at the kerbside. The Recycle More service has seen the number of cartons being recycled more than double compared to the period before its introduction, with around ten tonnes being recycled each month.
At the same time, the volume of cartons being received at recycling centres has “reduced dramatically”, with only 500kg being collected across all 16 sites. The council and its contractor Biffa have concluded offering this service at recycling centres is no longer financially viable.
Cllr Sarah Dyke, portfolio holder for the environment and climate change, said, “I am proud that Somerset residents show they care for our county by recycling – it is all helping to make a greener more sustainable county.
“Kerbside collections are the most efficient way to collect that recycling, saving time and fuel from individual drop-off on site. Although we will no longer collect cartons at our recycling sites, I’d encourage everyone to continue to put their cartons out for collection in the green container.”
Frome’s recycling centre is at Manor Furlong (near the Keyford Meadows development site)
The council and its contractors make more than 350,000 waste collections a week, and more than 90% of the collected materials that is collected stays in the UK. For more information visit www.somerset.gov.uk/waste.