Recycling tracker report

Introduction

Our recycling tracker shows how much recycling is collected each year, and what happens to it. We share details on every tonne collected, the companies involved, and how it’s likely reused as new packaging and products.

Highlights from 2024-25 :

148,813 tonnes of recycling was collected

55.45% recycling rate

87.5% of all recycling stayed in the UK

99.15% of plastics were recycled in the UK

56.5% of recycling stayed in Somerset

Only 2,354 tonnes of waste went to landfill

138,184 tonnes of carbon was saved by recycling instead of landfill

Tracking what happens after each tonne is collected or taken to a recycling site shows that the reprocessing companies are legitimate. No recycling is burned, dumped, or ends up in the ocean.

Recycling in Somerset can become anything from cardboard boxes and plastic pipes, to soil conditioner and car parts.

Recycling Tracker report 2024 – 2025

Download the 2024-2025 Recycling Tracker in full

PDF, 215KB

What happens to the waste we collect

Recycling is sold for reprocessing by our contractors, SUEZ and Biffa. Together, we’re committed to keeping materials in the UK wherever there is capacity and demand.

Your efforts kerbside sorting into boxes and bags helps us get more recycling processed closer to home. It also reduces contamination (where items we can’t recycle are added by mistake), making it easier to sell to UK-based companies.

Learn more on our Sorting your recycling into containers page.

How much has Somerset recycled

148,813 tonnes of recycling was collected and 87.5% of Somerset’s recycling was reprocessed in the UK, 56.5% of which stayed in the county.

How much was saved to be reused?

In 2024-25, 2,744 tonnes were reused – an increase of around 350 tonnes. This includes smart tech collected via the Fixy project, furniture and bric-a-brac donated to furniture reuse groups and reusable textiles collected from the kerbside and via recycling sites.

Reusing items like mobile phones, furniture, or bicycles is even better for the environment than recycling, as it avoids the need for processing and remanufacturing.

Food waste

More than 21,000 tonnes was collected, all recycled in Somerset.

A reduction in food waste is great news, as it helps tackle climate change and saves residents money.

Food waste is transformed into electricity by the anaerobic digestion plant at Walpole, near Bridgwater. It powers homes and businesses and produces fertiliser to grow more food.

Garden waste – stays in Somerset

This year, 48,154 tonnes of garden waste was collected either from our kerbsides or at household recycling sites. Garden waste is composted in Somerset and turned into Revive soil improver, available to buy at recycling sites.

Paper, card and glass

Paper and card at 24,282 tonnes, and glass at 16,348 tonnes, have both reduced for the past three years. A reduction in waste could mean a couple of things – and is often linked to external influences.

Households and businesses are committed to reduced packaging options.

It could also reflect the current cost of living crisis, with residents spending less and therefore less waste being produced at home.

Pioneered in 2008, Somerset was the first waste authority to publish this kind of annual, detailed breakdown.

Our recycling rate puts us among England’s leading authorities for recycling – with even more potential to improve.

Thanks to kerbside sorting, we produce low-contamination, high-quality materials that the market demands – making Somerset one of the best areas for carbon saving.

How materials are recycled

• Paper: Sent to paper mills in the UK and overseas to be recycled into newsprint and other paper and board products
• Cardboard: Sent to board mills in the UK and overseas to be recycled into new cardboard
• Mixed container glass: Sent to reprocessing facilities in the UK to be turned into new glass bottles and jars, mineral wool and other glass products
• Cans and foil: Sorted into steel and aluminium and sent to reprocessing facilities in the UK. Steel cans are made into new steel products and aluminium cans are recycled into more cans and other aluminium products
• Food waste: Sent to an anaerobic digestion facility near Bridgwater to produce a soil improver used on agricultural land and biogas used to generate electricity
• Garden waste: Composted in Somerset by Biffa. Sold as Revive Compost at recycling centres or in bulk for agricultural use
• Textiles: Sent for reuse in the UK and developing world or shredded into cotton felt/wadding/mops and industrial wiping cloths
• Shoes: Sent to developing nations to be refurbished and reused. Those not suitable for reuse are recycled
• Plastic bottles and pots, tubs and trays: Sent to reprocessors in the UK to be recycled into various plastic items such as new plastic packaging, films, pipes, compost bins and fleece jackets
• Beverage cartons: Sent to reprocessors in the UK to be separated into paper for cardboard products, plastic to generate energy, and aluminium to be used for aluminium products
• Fridges and freezers: Broken down into separate components for reuse in manufacturing, and CFCs extracted for safe disposal
• Electrical: Broken down into separate components, baled and recycled
• Bric-a-brac: Sent to various local outlets via collection agents at each recycling site
• Household batteries: Separated into different fractions (that is, metal and plastic) for reuse in manufacturing
• Automotive batteries: Separated into different fractions (that is, metal and plastic) for reuse in manufacturing
• Cooking oil: Turned into biofuel to generate electricity and heat
• Engine oil: Oils are recovered and blended for use as an alternative fuel
• Paint (water based): Recycled into new paint products
• Scrap metal: Sent to various reprocessors who break it down into separate components, bale and recycle it
• Wood (clean and low grade timber): Some of the wood is chipped and made into a range of products including animal bedding, equestrian surfaces. Some is incinerated to produce energy and heat
• Plasterboard: Separated into gypsum which is reprocessed into new plasterboard, and paper which is recycled into a variety of new paper materials