CAG Somerset continues to thrive as celebrates its second year

Community Action Groups (CAG) Somerset – a community-led support network managed and staffed by Resource Futures – has celebrating another successful year of activities, notching up significant recycling and reuse achievements.

Funded by Somerset Council and SUEZ UK, CAG Somerset provides free support to a thriving network of local Community Action Groups working to reducing waste, increasing recycling, and improving environmental sustainability and resilience within their communities.

In 2024-25 volunteers within the member groups of the CAG network have:

• Dedicated 14,500 hours of work
• Swapped 65,200 kg of items
• Saved 51,000 kg of food from going to waste

Beyond this, repair cafes involved in the network have seen 1,700 items brought in – and over 200 tools sharpened. Additionally, CAG Somerset groups’ activities have resulted in:

• Consumer cost savings of £515,000
• 49 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill or incineration
• 194 tonnes of carbon emissions avoided

The impact of CAG groups’ work is not just environmental: many volunteers share that they feel an increased connection to their communities and feel good for being part of the network. A volunteer survey highlighted the vast health and wellbeing benefits, with 73% of volunteers feeling better connected to their community and 57% stating that they had made new friends through CAG Somerset.

In the coming year (2025-26), CAG Somerset is looking to grow and diversify its membership, inspire new ideas between groups and support collaborative action, as well as secure funding so it can continue its work into the future.

“What a fantastic year CAG has achieved,” comments Councillor Richard Wilkins, Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Transport and Waste “It’s great to see real results from grassroots actions, and I hope more people will join [CAG Somerset] and reuse and recycle more to help our environment.”

“We’re incredibly proud of what our members have achieved this year,” adds Jinny Uppington, CAG Somerset Lead at Resource Futures. “The support we have provided them through networking to share best practice to offering small grants has helped groups thrive.

“These numbers represent thousands of meaningful conversations, repaired and reused items, food items distributed that would have otherwise gone to waste, shared resources, and considerable emissions avoided – all driven by volunteers committed to making a difference. With continued support and collaboration, we’re excited to grow the network further, expand the support we offer to community groups and build an even stronger network across Somerset.”

“We are proud to support the CAG project as it provides some great support for the brilliant people running these local community groups,” concludes Mathew Canning, Contract Director for Somerset at SUEZ UK. “CAG Somerset has a great network of groups helping to reduce waste and the results gathered on their impact is really impressive. We look forward to seeing the network grow and the impact of what the future of CAG brings to the local community!”

About CAG Somerset

CAG Somerset is managed by Resource Futures and funded by Somerset Council and its collections contractor SUEZ through the joint Somerset Waste: Enhanced Environmental Performance (SW:EEP) fund.

The partnership’s SW:EEP fund is designated specifically for the benefit of the community, through projects on climate action, behaviour change and positive community support.

About Resource Futures

Resource Futures is an organisation accelerating the shift towards a circular world: putting reuse, repair, recycling and restorative practices at the heart of the fight to address the climate crisis.

Working across consultancy, communities and data, Resource Futures supports organisations, governments, NGOs, non-profits and community groups to rebalance their relationships with resources, facilitating the shift to circular and regenerative models that retain and restore rather than extract and deplete.

Visit resourcefutures.co.uk for more information; for additional images and information, check out our media pack.