Fridge freezers left at Newport Docks amid suspended collections

People have reported storing broken fridges and freezers in their gardens for months because some council collections have been suspended.

It follows the closure of specialist treatment facilities and a wider shortage of capacity to process cooling appliances, the Local Government Authority (LGA) said.

Recycling company Unimetals, which had dozens of sites in the UK, filed for liquidation in 2025 leaving tens of thousands of fridge freezers at Newport Docks.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it was working to manage the capacity shortages.

Almost a quarter of Welsh councils say they have suspended household collections of fridge-freezers due to a shortage of space at disposal sites.

Cardiff is one of these and Lee Young, who lives in the city, has been trying to get rid of his broken fridge-freezer for two months.

“I tried to take it to the recycling centre in July but was told it wasn’t accepted. Someone said the council would collect it, but they won’t either.”

It has been sitting in his back garden ever since and he does not know when council collections will resume.