Residents of Shepton Malletwill soon participate in a pioneering recycling trial, as Somerset extends its successful flexible plastics collection scheme.

Following the impressive results from a Frome-based trial, an additional 20,000 properties, including those in Shepton, will join this environmental initiative by late-spring or early-summer this year.

Flexible plastics, including everyday items like bread bags and salad wrappers, have been notoriously difficult to recycle. However, Somerset's pilot scheme, which began in May 2023, has shown promising results in efficiently recycling these materials. With 65% of households participating and minimal contamination, the trial in Frome collected around half a tonne of flexible plastic weekly.

Environmental officer Mike Cowdell said that the initial trial in Frome had "yielded impressive results", with 65 per cent of the selected households participating and "very low contamination rates", making it easier for the materials to be recycled.

He said the average household provided around 225g of these materials each week – meaning around half a metric tonne of flexible plastic was collected every cycle (i.e. every week).

He added in his written report: "The trial has been popular in Somerset with participation rates exceeding project objectives. The restrictions placed on refuse bin capacity through three-weekly collections also make this an attractive service to resident,s as well as allowing them to further participate in recycling as much as they can.

"There have been no issues incorporating this material into the existing waste collection infrastructure, providing a cost effective mechanism to introduce a new stream of waste recycling materials into our collection regime."

The homes involved in the extension of the trial will receive written notice of the new materials being collected in the coming months.