Could Welsh depot solve fridge recycling "crisis"?

A disused fridge and freezer recycling depot in Wales has been earmarked as a possible solution to the national backlog in processing the appliances.

Oxfordshire County Council has written to the government, suggesting the facility in Newport should reopen to help with the "crisis" as the equipment is still on site to recycle the white goods.

Laura Gordon, cabinet member for economy and the environment at Oxfordshire County Council said reopening the site would "enable everyone to keep moving and recycling their fridges and freezers as normal".

It's after the local authority introduced a booking system for the appliances, to limit the daily number accepted at household tips.

The Newport plant closed last November when the company - Unimetals -went into liquidation.

The hot weather has also caused problems in the recycling system, with processing sites operating at reduced capacity when temperatures exceed 30°C, to avoid the equipment overheating.

Gordon says that all contributed to a "perfect storm", leaving councils with responsibility for waste and recycling in a difficult position.

"Fridges and freezers require specialist recycling because of the cooling gases which can deplete the ozone, if they're not handled correctly. Unfortunately, due to fires at two recycling sites and the bankruptcy of a third, national capacity is down massively."

Gordon says the recycling technology is still available at the Welsh depot "but it will be taken away shortly if somebody doesn't intervene".

"We've called on the government to step in now, while the equipment is still on site, get that site operating so we can start working through the backlog," she added.

New rules at the county's tips have now come into force, asking residents to book the disposal of their fridge and freezers a week in advance.

Once they have a confirmed appointment, they can drop off two appliances but will then be unable to dispose of any more for the next three months.

It comes as the local authority asked district and city councils to stop collecting fridges and freezers as part of their bulky waste service.

Cherwell, Oxford City, South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse District Council all agreed, but West Oxfordshire District Council has decided to continue with collections.

A spokesperson for West Oxfordshire said, "our view is that we should explore storage options for these items for the period the county council have asked us to suspend collections. This will reduce the risk of fly-tipping while the national issue is resolved."

"We would still encourage residents to take advantage of exchange services in place through retailers and also whether they can sell or donate their old appliances if they still work."

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said, "we appreciate the challenges currently facing local authorities, and are working closely with the Environment Agency, industry and local authority stakeholders to manage the impact of treatment capacity shortages."

"This includes allowing the storage of fridge and cooling equipment on temporary sites provided certain conditions set out by the Environment Agency are met."

"We expect capacity in existing treatment facilities to increase towards the end of summer as temperatures fall and we will closely monitoring the situation over the coming weeks."