Recycling centres across England and Wales are struggling to cope with a backlog of discarded fridges and freezers, prompting 26 councils, including Bradford, Gloucestershire, Durham and Nottinghamshire, to suspend collections this month. The Local Government Association says the crisis stems from a "system failure" in processing capacity rather than a rise in fridge sales, and warns it could worsen as heatwaves push more ageing appliances to breaking point and households increasingly buy second or backup fridges. This matters because fridges contain refrigerant gas and hazardous foam insulation, so they require specialist licensed plants to dismantle safely, and a shortage of such facilities threatens to leave growing volumes of hazardous waste stranded at council sites.

The shortage has been driven by the collapse of a major recycling centre at Newport Docks last year, which left over 80,000 fridges and freezers stranded, alongside the closure of two other processing sites. In Oxfordshire, one recycling centre alone fills nearly three articulated lorries with fridges weekly, and the council has resorted to booking slots and restricting drop-offs to residents to manage demand. Industry figures note fridge sales have actually been flat or slightly down in 2026, pointing instead to a rise in backup refrigeration, partly linked to Covid-era habits and government advice to stockpile, as a key cause. Councillors warn that unless capacity is restored, such as by reopening the Newport site or through a new facility due in January, costs and environmental risks will escalate quickly.