New figures reveal almost 50 per cent of household waste is recycled in Buckinghamshire.
Data from Buckinghamshire Council shows 49.6 per cent of household waste is directed towards reuse, recycling, or composting. Out of more than 300 local authorities, the unitary authority ranks within the top 70 for household recycling.
Councillor Thomas Broom praised the authority for being among the top 20 per cent of all local authorities in terms of household recycling. He attributes this to the council’s comprehensive kerbside recycling collection and its ten household recycling centres.
The council’s energy from waste facility means that only 0.1 per cent of waste goes to landfill, with the remaining non-recyclable rubbish being burned to generate renewable electricity to power homes.
Despite this, Councillor Broom added: “Sadly, there are still lots of recyclable items that end up in household rubbish bins and we are working hard to encourage more recycling where possible.
“This includes promoting our online Waste Wizard tool which allows people to check what can be recycled and also our Zero Waste Map to help avoid waste altogether.”
The council organizes outreach events for schools and community groups to promote increased recycling participation and it offers discount programs for home composting, sustainable sanitary products, and reusable diapers.
Bucks still performs better than several other nearby authorities including Reading Borough Council, Oxford City Council, Milton Keynes City Council and Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council.
Other data showed that an average of 477.3kg of household waste was collected per household in Buckinghamshire over the last year for which data was collected.
Bucks Council is also one of the best authorities in terms of the least amount of waste sent to landfill. More information on how to recycle can be found online here.
Many of Buckinghamshire’s neighbouring councils that perform better in terms of the percentage of household waste recycled include South Oxfordshire District Council – the best in the country – and Vale of White Horse District Council – the third best – which both have household waste recycling rates of more than 60 per cent.
Other nearby authorities that perform better than Bucks for recycling, including Oxfordshire County Council, West Oxfordshire District Council, Cherwell District Council and West Berkshire District Council.
PHOTO CREDIT: Waste at a recycling plant, photo from Adobe Stock
