Rotherham Council has temporarily limited residents to disposing of one fridge or freezer at a time at its recycling centres. The restriction follows fires and closures at processing facilities across the UK, reducing national capacity to handle cooling appliances and creating pressure on local storage.

The disruption is expected to last four to six weeks. Fridges and freezers need specialist treatment to remove refrigerant gases and insulation safely, and the council warned it may have to stop accepting them if stockpiles cannot be stored legally and safely; it says current capacity is sufficient but finite.