The rollout of expanded curbside recycling collections in the Burnham-On-Sea area and other parts of Somerset has been hailed as a success by the Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP).
Figures show that with Recycle More, the weight of waste in bins has been reduced by around 20% while the amount of plastic collected has almost doubled.
And since the launch of the new service, huge amounts of new materials have been collected, including 174 tonnes of small electrical appliances, 97 tonnes of cardboard (including Tetra Pak) and 27 tonnes of household batteries.
In 2019-20, the average monthly weight of plastic collected in Somerset was 270 tonnes. So far in 2022-23, that’s a whopping 518 tons, or about 10 million pieces, every month.
Recycle More is now in place for all residences across the county, with the rollout in Sedgemoor and West Somerset ending in July. In October, the collections of schools in Somerset will be expanded as part of the final part of the initiative.
Mickey Green, Managing Director of SWP, says: “We want good recycling to be part of everyone’s daily routine and part of Somerset’s DNA.
“These numbers show how warmly residents have welcomed Recycle More, which has helped our recycling rate reach new heights. We can all be proud of what has been achieved so far, but we can still do much more”.
In 2021-2022, Somerset recycled or reused nearly 150,000 tonnes, saving 133,000 tonnes of carbon, equivalent to taking 51,000 cars off the road for a year. 97.2% of the materials remained in the UK to be transformed into new products and packaging, 99.4% of which were plastics.