Somerset Council is set to invest up to £700,000 in purchasing new waste bins by the end of the 2025/26 financial year. This expenditure is part of the council’s ongoing responsibility to provide and replace kerbside collection bins as outlined in their waste collection contract with Suez.
The types of bins covered include black wheelie bins for general refuse, recycling boxes, and food waste caddies. Though the council has allocated up to £950,000 within its capital programme for bin purchases, it plans to limit spending to around £700,000 due to current financial constraints.
To reduce costs, the council will remove and repurpose approximately 3,500 unauthorized additional bins from properties across Somerset. Most of these are 180-litre grey refuse bins.
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Over recent years, Somerset has distributed many new bins during the rollout of the Recycle More initiative. This program extended refuse collection intervals from fortnightly to once every three weeks, encouraging heightened recycling participation.
For the coming financial year ending April 2026, the council forecasts the need to provide up to 68,640 additional waste containers. This figure accounts for replacing damaged bins and meeting demand from housing growth. The breakdown includes:
- 17,500 grey or black refuse bins
- 7,000 green garden waste bins
- Nearly 11,000 green recycling boxes for glass bottles, jars, and cartons
- Approximately 12,500 black boxes for paper and cardboard
- Nearly 62,000 brown food waste caddies
- Around 69,000 large blue bags for plastics, foil, aerosols, cans, and similar items
Chris Hall, Executive Director for Community, Place and Economy, confirmed that the current multi-container recycling system will remain in place until at least 2030, when the waste contract is due for review. He emphasized that alternatives are not permitted under the current agreement.
Hall also stated, “The provision of suitable containers will allow the residents of Somerset to fully engage with our vision of ensuring our household waste is effectively collected, reused, recycled and treated.” He assured the council will enforce strict control over bin distribution to prevent unnecessary costs to taxpayers.