The communications team at Somerset Waste has reassured customers in Frome about where the recycled waste is headed following a BBC report about recycling being dumped and burned in Turkey.

The communications head has reassured residents who asked whether the plastics and other items are heading abroad.

Nick Cater from Somerset Waste wrote: " Our waste is not going to Turkey or anywhere else. We track every tonne, using only legitimate companies."

He pointed out that in the report the key problem shown was thin film plastic (carrier bags, supermarket packaging etc), which Somerset has never collected. The report - on the BBC on June 26 showed waste being burned in Turkey and claimed that the UK sends more plastic waste there than to any other country,

He added: " Previous reporting showed this material coming from councils that have all-in-one-bin mixed, low-quality high-contamination recycling, not Somerset's twice-sorted system of kerbside boxes.

All the materials you recycle kerbside and at recycling sites in Somerset are recycled. "

SWP say : 90% of all materials recycled from Somerset stay in the UK, with more than 50% staying in Somerset itself.

In specific regard to food waste he added : " All Somerset food waste put out for recycling stays in Somerset, transformed by the anaerobic digestion plant near Bridgwater into electricity and farm compost. Metal and electrical items recycled via recycling sites all stay in UK, including some that go to Somerset firms."

• but only if it's true