Environment & Climate

Shortage of processing plants leaves England and Wales with growing mountain of broken fridges

Multiple heat waves and plant closures have created a nationwide capacity crunch, forcing dozens of councils to suspend white goods collections.

Updated Aug 29, 2026 · 01:18 UTC1 reports

The short version

A major backlog of broken fridges and freezers is building up across England and Wales as specialist recycling facilities face a national capacity crunch.
The shortage has forced 26 local councils to suspend household collections of old white goods, sparking concerns of increased flytipping.
The UK government is establishing short-term storage facilities and urging appliance manufacturers to help manage the disposal bottleneck and associated costs.

A backlog of broken fridges and freezers is accumulating at waste centers across England and Wales following several summer heat waves.[BBC News]
Twenty-six local councils, including Bradford, Gloucestershire, Durham, and Nottingham, have suspended white goods collections this month.[BBC News]
Three of the UK's 10 full-scale fridge processing plants have closed over the past year due to bankruptcy, a fire, and a change of use.[BBC News]
The remaining UK processing plants are unable to operate when temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius.[BBC News]
The Local Government Association is calling on the government to force appliance manufacturers to assist councils with storage costs, while some UK fridges are currently being exported to Europe for processing.[BBC News]
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is setting up short-term storage to reduce household disruption while pressuring producers to resolve the delays.[BBC News]

Industry representatives estimate that recovering from the capacity shortage could take between six to 12 months.[BBC News]
Landowners and local authorities have expressed concern that the disposal bottleneck will lead to an increase in illegal flytipping on agricultural land.[BBC News]