HOUSEHOLDS in Somerset are being restricted to just one refrigerator, freezer, or other type of cooling appliance being accepted by any of the county’s 16 recycling sites during August - commercial users are already banned from depositing such appliances.

The change is being imposed by Somerset Council and its recycling site operator Biffa because of a national shortage of UK reprocessing capacity.

A council spokesperson said it was likely the shortage was caused by a fire and/or other unplanned outages at specialist treatment facilities, together with increased volumes during warmer weather as more appliances are replaced or fail.

The spokesperson asked residents to hold off taking appliances to recycling sites during the next month, if they can be safely stored, to help ease the pressure.

Somerset executive Cllr Federica Smith-Roberts said: “We appreciate residents may be frustrated by this temporary change, but it is needed because of pressures on national reprocessing capacity for these appliances.

“By limiting each household to one fridge, freezer or cooling appliance during August, we can keep sites operating safely and fairly for everybody while the specialist treatment network recovers.

“We would like to thank residents for their patience and ask people, where it is safe and practical to do so, to consider storing appliances for a short time while this disruption continues.

“As the national situation may take longer to resolve, this will really help ease pressure on our recycling sites.

“Residents can also consider alternative options for recycling their appliances, such as retailer take-back schemes.”

Cllr Smith-Roberts said appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, and air-conditioning units needed specialist treatment because they contained refrigerants and other materials which had to be handled carefully.

She said the position would be kept under review and might need to continue beyond August if national reprocessing capacity remained limited.