HOUSEHOLD waste figures are down while recycling is on the up say Warwickshire county chiefs.
Between April and December last year, an extra 3,024 tonnes of recyclable waste were collected from homes in Warwickshire – an increase of seven per cent on the same period the previous year.
Warwickshire County Council (WCC) says the figure is thanks to residents up and down the country separating even more of their rubbish.
They say around 10 per cent of recycling in Warwickshire is sent to energy-from-waste plants, compared to a reported national average of about 11 per cent. And, according to the authority, the 10 per cent are rejected items which cannot actually be recycled.
Latest figures also show householders have reduced their overall waste in the past year. Although the number of households in the county is increasing, the amount of waste per household has dropped by 20kg over the last two years, and is predicted to drop further to 2kg per household for 2020/21.
While the authority has praised residents for taking environmental responsibility seriously and reducing their waste, it says there is still more they can do.
It is appealing to residents to check their local council’s guidelines to make sure they are not adding items to their recycling that cannot be collected from their kerbside.
The wrong items in the recycling bin, such as excessive food residue, plastic film, polystyrene and nappies, leads to around 10 per cent of the waste sent for recycling being rejected.
WCC’s environmental spokeswoman Heather Timms said: “I am delighted to see that our eco-conscious residents have defied the odds and actually reduced their overall waste again this year, despite us all being in lockdown for a lot of the time.
“I am also thankful to see that we all continue to get better at separating our recycling and making sure that this packaging can become new raw material for new products.
“Reducing waste not only saves your own household money, it also reduces the council’s spend on waste disposal, meaning that money can be better spent on other important services.
“Protecting the environment is at the forefront of our minds and we can all reduce our climate impact through savvy shopping to reduce waste and through making sure we recycle everything we can.”
Visit warwickshire.gov.uk/kerbside for more information.
