Several factors have placed strain on the UK’s fridge and freezer recycling capacity, including the closure of Unimetals and a series of fires.
The abnormal number of heatwaves this summer has also had an impact. Higher temperatures typically result in increased volumes of waste fridges entering the local authority and retailer takeback networks, while extreme heat can also reduce processing efficiency and increase the risk of plant downtime.
The situation has led several local authorities to look at pausing collections of these items or adopting other approaches while the bottleneck of fridges waiting for reprocessing is cleared.
Oxfordshire County Council has become the latest council to bring in mitigation measures.
This week, the council announced that households will be limited to one fridge or freezer booking at its Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) every three months, although they can bring up to two of these items with each booking.
Councillor Laura Gordon, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Economy, said: “We are exploring every avenue to address the backlog and support residents to continue recycling. I have written to the government to suggest steps they could take to alleviate the situation at a national level.
“Unfortunately, our capacity for treatment nationally has been reduced by a third and we have now had to introduce temporary restrictions at our HWRCs to help manage a growing backlog as we seek to maintain the service for residents.
“We would also like to thank residents for their understanding and working with us through this nationally challenging period.”
It joins other councils which have been forced to pause collections or take other measures, including Carmarthenshire, Norfolk, South Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Peterborough.
It is important to note that not all local authorities, recyclers or compliance schemes have been affected and the impact will depend on geographical location and local storage capacity.
Not-for-profit producer compliance scheme Ecogenesys said that it has largely maintained collections for its local authority partners, although a small proportion have experienced some disruption as a result of reduced UK processing capacity.
In the short to medium term, the compliance scheme said it is progressing a number of support measures, including:
- Increased communications with its local authorities and partners to provide continued service via contingency processing at alternative plants where available
- Short-term storage of units ahead of treatment
- Export to authorised European treatment facilities, with a TFS application submitted via its partners GAP Group
- Development of new UK fridge processing infrastructure to provide its producers and local authorities increased access and security of supply routes
Situation may ease off soon
However, some experts, including Ecogenesys, have suggested that the situation may ease off soon as the cooler weather decreases the number of fridges and freezers needing to be recycled.
Additional capacity is also expected to come online in early 2027 via a new Enva fridge-freezer recycling site in Dartford, Kent.
However, others have cautioned that neither factor will completely reverse the loss in capacity as a result of the Unimetals closure and recent fires.
Graeme Milne, CEO of Ecogenesys, added: “The UK fridge recycling sector has faced exceptional pressures this summer, but we expect the situation to begin to ease as the seasonal peak passes.
“It is important that local authorities, producer compliance schemes and treatment providers continue to work collaboratively to manage capacity and develop practical solutions.
“In the immediate term, additional storage and, subject to regulatory approval, access to European treatment capacity can help manage the current pressures. Longer term, however, the UK needs new domestic fridge processing infrastructure to create a more resilient system.
“Ecogenesys is actively progressing each of these measures and will continue working closely with our local authority, producer and treatment partners.”
What has caused the backlog?
The pressure currently facing the sector is being caused by a series of operational and commercial disruptions that have unfolded over the past few years, reducing the capacity of the UK’s fridge recycling network.
A significant setback occurred in November 2025 when Unimetals Recycling filed a petition for compulsory liquidation after failing to secure new investment or complete a sale of the business.
The liquidation was particularly notable given the scale of the business. Unimetals had acquired Sims Metal Management’s UK operations for £195 million just a year earlier, creating one of the country’s largest independent metal recycling businesses, with around 650 employees across 27 sites.
Its Newport facility was one of only a handful of specialist fridge recycling plants in the UK, and the closure removed an estimated 600,000 units of annual refrigeration treatment capacity from the market.
The sector’s capacity was further tested in 2026 by a series of fires at specialist treatment facilities. In February, a fire forced the closure of EMR’s fridge recycling plant at Darlaston in the West Midlands.
Just two months later, Wiser Recycling’s treatment facility at Thetford was severely damaged by fire. The site processed a significant proportion of the electrical waste collected at Norfolk’s household waste recycling centres, including refrigeration appliances.
Wiser Recycling subsequently lost its AATF status and ceased operating from the site, removing another outlet for specialist WEEE processing.
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