All 6,500 tonnes of plastic collected by Somerset crews last year has been recycled in the UK.

The assortment of discarded bottles, pots tubes and trays have been turned into new products and packaging.

It marks a 99% increase on the previous year when around half was recycled offshore.

Councillor Dixie Darch, Executive Lead Member for Environment and Climate Change said: “We want to lead the way and act responsibly to protect our environment, helping make Somerset a greener and more sustainable county. We are transparent about where our waste goes as a county, and are proud to say that all the plastic collected stayed in the UK. 

“Letting people know what happens to the recycling they sort has been shown to be a great motivator to get people recycling more, which is why Somerset was the first area to publish this kind of detail every year. 

“Responsibly reprocessing our waste is a priority, but we also want to back efforts to reduce the amount of waste we are producing. Recycling is great, but reducing and reusing is even better.”