Somerset is being asked to hold on to its unwanted clothes and textiles to make sure they don’t end up in landfill.

Somerset Waste Partnership has announced that kerbside textile recycling collections are being suspended until the coronavirus situation improves.

This is because the Covid-19 pandemic has seen both the national and international market for textiles grind to halt, and any materials collected now may well end up in landfill.

Closed charity shops mean more clothes at the kerbside for recycling.

But Somerset Waste Partnership say that with nowhere for them to be sold on, they have to be stored in depots where they will eventually become damp, mouldy and only fit for landfill.

Therefore residents are encouraged to keep unwanted textiles – that are of good enough quality to be worn again - at home until they can be taken to charity shops or the SWP kerbside collections restart.

Despite depleted crews, SWP staff have been working flat out to make sure recycling, rubbish, clinical waste and food waste collections have continued largely unaffected.

However, garden waste services have had to be suspended to keep those core services going, and recycling sites have also been closed in line with the Government advice around non-essential travel.

Plans are being finalised for the reintroduction of garden waste collections, and the reopening of recycling sites - depending on government advice.

Mickey Green, managing director of SWP, said: “If people put items out for recycling, then they have every right to expect that they will be recycled.

"Right now, we just can’t promise that that will happen to textiles so we’re asking people to hold on until things improve.

"This isn’t about the money it’s about our commitment to the environment.”