Residents are being reminded that Taunton Recycling Site will remain closed for the foreseeable future following the fire that began last Tuesday morning.

Wellington and Bridgwater recycling sites will continue to open seven days a week – supported by staff redeployed from Taunton – until the Taunton site can safely reopen.

Both Wellington and Bridgwater saw a large influx of visitors last weekend and advice is to save your visit until midweek if possible.

The Wellington site was particularly busy, so residents are advised to use the Bridgwater site if practical.

Kerbside collections are not affected by the closure and residents should continue to put their refuse and recycling out as usual.

The site is owned by Biffa who manage the public recycling site on behalf of Somerset Council. Although a small fire is still burning today, structural engineers were on site yesterday (10 October) and will take several days to conclude investigations.

The public recycling site cannot open until the MRF is made safe or demolished.

Residents who would usually use the Taunton site in the Priorswood area are asked to either:

• Hold on to their recycling if it can wait
• Put it in their kerbside recycling if it is the right kind of material
• Try one of the council’s other 15 sites if it is waste that urgently needs to go

Cllr Dixie Darch, Executive Member for Climate, and the Environment said:

I want to thank residents for their patience and understanding. We are sorry that you cannot access the site yet.

Teams are working hard to find the best way to make the site safe, but please bear with us while plans are put in place to reopen.

Fire services were called to the site in Priorswood in the early hours of the morning on Tuesday 3 October and up to 60 firefighters and seven appliances were involved in tackling the blaze.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Somerset Council has 16 recycling sites across the county which are managed by Biffa on the Council’s behalf. Staff from Taunton have been redeployed to provide the extra opening in Wellington and Bridgwater