Recycling and rubbish collections will begin at 6am in the lead‑up to Glastonbury Festival to help crews beat the traffic and reach homes across the area.

Somerset Council announced the change for the former Mendip area, saying it will apply from Tuesday, June 24, to Friday, June 27. Residents are asked to put bins, boxes and bags out the night before their scheduled collection, or by 6am at the latest.

The change is being made to help waste crews complete more than 350,000 weekly collections across Somerset at a time when the A361 between Glastonbury and Shepton Mallet will be especially busy.

The route is expected to be extremely congested from Monday, June 23, to Monday, June 30 as festival‑goers arrive and depart from the site, which has a capacity of 210,000.

Somerset Council said the earlier collections would help limit disruption to recycling, rubbish and garden waste services.