Alternatives to recycling sites
There are many alternatives to using Recycling Centres and Community Recycling Sites.
Hiring skips or services like Hippobag are an alternative for hardcore and soil. Garages and tyre fitters usually take worn tyres for a fee to cover their disposal costs.
Empty gas bottles can usually be returned to the supplier who sold it or to another supplier for reuse.
Throughout Somerset, most homes can put out the following items for kerbside recycling collections (and should not place them in their rubbish bin or black sacks): food waste, paper, cardboard, glass bottles and jars, steel and aluminium cans, household plastic bottles, aluminium foil (bagged), clothes (bagged), shoes (tied in pairs and bagged) and car batteries.
We provide paid-for fortnightly garden waste collections and paid-for bulky waste collections – contact your local council customer services. Garden waste can also be home composted and a garden shredder may allow you to home compost much more.
Somerset’s network of reuse groups accept donated furniture, electrical items and other household items, if in working order and good condition, and may be able to collect from your home.
Charity shops take clothes, books, furniture and many other goods, while Freecycle, Freegle, similar online groups and fee ads in local papers can be used to reuse of a wide range of items.
An increasing number of shops have recycling collection points for batteries, carrier bags, plastic film and low-energy light bulbs.