Somerset’s green-minded residents have helped the county climb into the top 30 councils for recycling. In Defra’s recently published league tables, Somerset’s 2021-2022 recycling rate of 56.2% ranks it 28 out of 228 local authorities, putting it in the top 15%. This is an improvement on 2020-21, when Somerset ranked 59 out of 228, with a recycling rate of 52.4%.
The Council is committed to a greener, more sustainable county working hard to help homeowners recycle more and waste less. In 2021-22, almost 150,000 tonnes of waste was recycled or reused, saving around 133,000 tonnes of carbon – the equivalent of taking more than 51,000 cars off the road for a year.
Of that, 97.2% was recycled into new products and package in the UK. Of the 5,771 tonnes of plastics collected, 99.4% were reprocessed in the UK.
Somerset’s hard-working crews make more than 350,000 collections a week. For more information about what happens to the recycling they collect, check the Somerset Recycling Tracker on the Somerset Council website somerset.gov.uk/waste.
Wootton Courtenay 