Council pauses fridge recycling amid backlog

A council has urged residents to avoid taking fridges and freezers to its four recycling centres while it deals with a backlog.

Central Bedfordshire Council said it could not send the appliances to alternative facilities during planned maintenance work due to a national issue.

The council hoped the backlog would be cleared and a normal service would resume from 12 October.

Tracey Wye, the council's executive member for sustainability and climate resilience, said: "This is a minor pause in our usual service, and we'd like to thank residents for their patience while the recycling facility completes this work and clears the backlog."

By law, fridges and freezers are required to be disposed of properly to prevent their gases or materials from damaging the environment.

The appliances contain fluorinated greenhouse gases and external and foam insulating materials that can release harmful gases if not disposed of at specialist centres.

In August, the Local Government Association warned that a mountain of broken fridges was building up at waste centres across England and Wales.

It said multiple heatwaves this year had led to an increase in the number of white goods breaking down and needing to be scrapped, and some specialist sites that dealt with them had closed.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) previously said the national situation is due to a loss of specialist facilities and that it was "pushing producers to fix the problem."

Wye added: "Residents are being asked to wait a short while before booking a time slot to bring fridges and freezers to a Household Waste Recycling Centre.

"We anticipate being able to accept such items at our HWRCs from 12 October and will make sure the public is kept informed if anything changes."

Do you have a story suggestion for Beds, Herts or Bucks? Contact us below.

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.