Cherwell collects more than 150 fridges and freezers a month and can collect none. Its leader has written to a Defra minister asking for sites to be restored.

Cherwell District Council normally collects more than 150 fridges and freezers a month from households. It cannot collect any of them at the moment, and its leader has written to a government minister asking for that to be fixed.

The letter, from Councillor Lesley McLean to Emma Hardy MP, Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is dated 28 August 2026. The council published it in full alongside a short news item that does not mention the 150 figure.

The council suspended new bulky waste bookings for fridges and freezers earlier this month. We covered what to do instead at the time. As of today the suspension notice is still at the top of the council’s bulky waste collection page, and no end date has been given.

What the letter says

The leader calls it an emergency. Her subject line is “Emergency: Fridge & Freezer capacity”.

She sets out the problem in three parts:

  • specialist recycling centres for fridges and freezers have collapsed across the country, and the coolant fluids mean the appliances can only be processed at a few locations
  • the council cannot safely store them itself
  • with no disposal route, residents must keep broken appliances at home or fly-tip them, “and create hazards on our roads and countryside”

She then asks the minister to commit to five things:

  • step in and restore the out-of-action recycling sites that have failed
  • speed up the licensing of new sites
  • relax storage requirements while keeping minimum health and safety levels
  • work directly with councils to secure approved storage in the meantime
  • communicate clearly with communities and councils on when this will be resolved

“It is not acceptable that residents must keep useless fridges and freezers because the national infrastructure has broken down,” the letter says.

The 150 figure is the new part

The council’s public notice has never said how many appliances the suspension affects. The letter does. On the council’s own figure, every further month it runs adds more than 150 appliances that residents have to store or take to a tip themselves.

That is the argument the letter makes for urgency, and it is why fly-tipping appears in it. The district has just seen the end of a clearance operation at the other extreme of the same problem: the 22,105-tonne illegal dump at Kidlington, paid for by the Environment Agency.

Your options have not changed this week

Nothing in the letter changes what you can do today.

  • Already booked? Your collection still stands. The council says it is “continuing to collect appliances that have already been scheduled”.
  • New bookings for fridges and freezers are closed. Everything else on the bulky list can still be booked, at £14.50 for one small item, £21.50 for one medium or large item and £35.50 for any three.
  • The county’s recycling centres still take them from Oxfordshire residents. Alkerton (OX15 6HZ) near Banbury and Ardley Fields (OX27 7PH) are the two nearest. You must book a slot and bring proof of address.
  • Buying a replacement? Make the retailer take the old one. Under the WEEE regulations a shop selling you a new fridge must offer a free route to dispose of the old one (GOV.UK guidance for distributors). Ask which route before you order.
  • Do not hand it to an unlicensed collector. Check the firm on the Environment Agency’s public register first. If they are not listed, they are not legal, and the waste remains your responsibility.

What it means for you

The suspension is national in cause and local in effect, and no one has put a date on it. If you are replacing an appliance in the next few weeks, the retailer take-back route is the one that does not depend on either council. If you are not replacing it, the county recycling centres are still open to you, with a booking.

We will update this page and our earlier story when the council reopens bookings. The notice on its bulky waste page is where that will appear first. Our bin collection days page covers the rest of the household waste service.

Sources: Cherwell District Council, Council leader writes to government for action on fridge freezer recycling (28 August 2026) and the leader’s letter to Emma Hardy MP of the same date; Cherwell District Council, bulky waste collection (checked 30 August 2026); Oxfordshire County Council, book a recycling centre visit; GOV.UK, electrical and electronic equipment: distributor responsibilities.