Cartons and TetraPaks packaging will no longer be accepted at Somerset household waste recycling centres due to large volumes being collected at the kerbside.

Cartons and similar items have been collected as part of weekly recycling pick-ups as part of the Recycle More scheme, which finished rolling out across Somerset in early-2022.

Currently, 12 of the 16 recycling centres still accept these items in the event of missed collections or other similar circumstances – the four exceptions being those at Castle Cary, Cheddar, Dulverton and Somerton.

Somerset Council has now announced that all 16 sites will stop accepting cartons and TetraPaks from Monday, June 12 – meaning all such items will have to be recycled at the kerbside.

The Recycle More service has seen the number of cartons being recycled more than double compared to the period before its introduction, with around ten tonnes being recycled each month.

At the same time, the volume of cartons being received at recycling centres has "reduced dramatically", with only 500kg being collected across all 16 sites.

The council and its contractor Biffa have concluded offering this service at recycling centres is no longer financially viable.

Councillor Sarah Dyke, portfolio holder for the environment and climate change, said: "I am proud that Somerset residents show they care for our county by recycling – it is all helping to make a greener more sustainable county.

"Kerbside collections are the most efficient way to collect that recycling, saving time and fuel from individual drop-off on site.

"Although we will no longer collect cartons at our recycling sites, I'd encourage everyone to continue to put their cartons out for collection in the green container."

Somerset's 16 recycling centres are in the following locations:

• Saltlands Avenue, Bridgwater (near the school transport depot)
• Dimmer Lane, Castle Cary
• Beeching Close, Chard (near the new enterprise centre)
• Wedmore Road, Cheddar
• Blacknell Lane, Crewkerne (near phase one of the Crewkerne key site)
• Brushford Road, Dulverton
• Manor Furlong, Frome (near the Keyford Meadows development site)
• Bennett Road, Highbridge (near the Isleport Grove development site)
• Mart Road, Minehead
• Bancombe Road, Somerton
• Farm Lane, Street (near Clarks Village)
• Venture Way, Taunton
• Higher Poole, Wellington
• Dulcolte Hill, nr Wells
• Roughmoor, Williton
• Artillery Road, Yeovil

The council and its contractors make more than 350,000 waste collections a week, with more than 90 per cent of the collected materials that is collected stays in the UK.

For more information visit www.somerset.gov.uk/waste.