Celebrating grassroots action across Somerset

At CAG Somerset, we believe that small local actions create powerful ripple effects. Community groups across the county have been making real-world change.

This year, our incredible network of volunteers have clocked up some truly impressive achievements:

• 14,500 volunteer hours
• 51,000kg of food saved from going to waste
• 65,200kg of items swapped in community exchanges
• 1,700 repairs completed at local repair cafés (plus 200 tools sharpened!)
• £515,000 in consumer savings—all thanks to reuse, sharing, and sustainable habits
• 49 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill or incineration
• 194 tonnes of carbon emissions avoided

Behind every figure lies a story—of shared resources, rescued meals, fixed appliances, and community spirit.

More than just environmental wins, all of those hours of volunteering has led to strong social benefits too. A recent volunteer survey highlighted that:

• 73% felt more connected to their community
• 57% made new friends through their volunteering

As we look ahead, CAG Somerset is excited to grow its membership, spark fresh ideas between groups, and continue providing free support—from small grants to knowledge-sharing opportunities.

What Our Partners Are Saying

Councillor Richard Wilkins, Lead Member for Transport and Waste at Somerset Council, said:

“What a fantastic year CAG has achieved. It’s great to see real results from grassroots actions – and I hope more people will join and reuse and recycle more to help our environment.”

Jinny Uppington, CAG Somerset Lead at Resource Futures, added:

“We’re incredibly proud of what our members have achieved this year. 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.”

Mathew Canning from SUEZ summed it up perfectly:

”We are proud to support the CAG project as it provides some great support for the brilliant people running these local community groups. Somerset have 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!”

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We can’t wait to see what 2025 – 2026 will lead to!