All 16 recycling sites in Somerset, including at Minehead and Williton, will be open on their usual winter hours over the Christmas and New Year period, except all close on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

On Monday, December 27, Dulverton recycle site will have a one-off day, from 9am to 5pm, to help with post-Christmas waste.

Mickey Green, SWP managing director, said: “Christmas inevitably creates waste, but with some planning ahead you can keep it to a minimum and be ready to do the right thing with things that can be reused or recycled.

“Reducing, reusing and recycling saves carbon. That matters more than ever to many people and SWP is working hard to do its bit.”

Separating recycling at the kerb is the best way to make sure it gets properly recycled and recycled close to home.

Last year 97.8 per cent of Somerset’s recycling stayed in the UK thanks to kerbside sorting. See somersetwaste.gov.uk/recycling-tracker for more detail.