Somerset Council, in partnership with household collections contractor, SUEZ, has revealed top results following a year of campaigning.
There was a 7.3% rise in the amount of food waste collected between July 2025 and July 2026. The increase is equivalent to every household in Somerset recycling an additional half a kitchen caddy of food waste each month, or around 0.5kg.
The partnership wanted to encourage residents to start recycling food waste or do a little bit more. In 2023 research showed that around 19,300 tonnes of food waste was thrown in the rubbish bin. If every scrap had been recycled instead, it would have saved the council around £1 million.
The campaign combined countywide communications with targeted activity in areas where food waste recycling was lower. Residents received practical advice through collection calendars, social media advertising, videos, bin stickers, community events and school activities.
As part of the campaign, residents were invited to pledge to start recycling food waste or to do a little more, with the chance to win a year’s supply of compostable kitchen caddy liners. The pledge attracted more than 1,000 entries and gathered residents’ reasons for recycling, alongside practical tips for making it part of everyday life.
Five winners were selected at random: Jackie from Chard, Jonathan from Taunton, Sheila from East Chinnock, Karen from Montacute and Katherine from Chard.
Cllr Federica Smith-Roberts, Lead Member for Communities, Environment and Climate Change at Somerset Council, said: “Recycling food waste is a simple way to help protect our environment. It creates clean, green energy and fertiliser, while costing less to process than food waste placed in the rubbish bin.
“As one of the first counties to roll out food waste collections, Somerset has always been great at recycling. These results show what can be achieved when residents make small changes to their everyday routines. We’ve been thrilled to see so many residents engage with our campaign and make efforts to recycle even more.”
Matt Canning, Contract Director at SUEZ said: “These results are fantastic and I’m delighted that so many Somerset residents have gone that little bit further to recycle more of their food waste. Small changes at home can add up to make a big impact for the county; not only saving money through disposal costs but contributing to making Somerset more sustainable by helping create cleaner energy and useful by-products.
We are heading in the right direction, but I’d urge residents to please keep making important changes; such as taking out-of-date food from its packaging and recycling that too”.
Residents can recycle all cooked and uncooked food waste in their weekly collection, including food that is out of date or past its best. Anyone who would like advice on using the service can visit the food waste recycling pages on the Somerset Council website.