MORE than a quarter of all household rubbish is now being recycled in the Suffolk Coastal area – and its green residents were today urged to keep it up.

MORE than a quarter of all household rubbish is now being recycled in the Suffolk Coastal area – and its green residents were today urged to keep it up.

Latest figures from the district council's refuse service show that 1,000 tonnes of paper and garden waste were collected from homes in the past two months – the equivalent of 125 full refuse freighters.

That means the council is hitting the government target of 24 per cent, though the real figure for recycling is far higher as many residents take glass, cans, cardboard and plastic to the county council household waste sites.

"The first two months of our expanded service have been tremendous but the message has to be don't stop now – get into the habit of using our fortnightly services and let's see if we can beat our target for the year," said Chris Slemmings, cabinet member for the environment.

Since April there have been massive changes to kerbside recycling in the district with the expansion of the fortnightly paper collection service to every home, and 12,000 homes now taking part in the Coastal Ploughback wheelie bin scheme.

"We were set a tough target of recycling 24pc of all domestic rubbish by the end of March next year and to help residents meet that goal we brought in major improvements to our existing services to make it easier than ever to get into the recycling habit," said Mr Slemmings.

"I would like to offer my sincere thanks to local residents who have shown their commitment to the environment by putting out their paper and green waste in April and May. This is a tremendous response and I hope even more people will join in.

"Every home in the district, that's nearly 55,000, can now put out their green crate every fortnight to have their paper collected, and 12,000 homes have brown wheelie bins for our Coastal Ploughback green garden waste scheme."

Councillors are hoping to expand Coastal Ploughback further by next April, with funding from either government, with negotiations now underway about possible support, or county-based sources.

Suffolk Coastal's cabinet will discuss the way forward at its meeting on July 15.

Nearly 700 tonnes of paper was collected in April and May – more than twice the amount for the same time last year – and more than 300 tonnes of garden waste.

The council has also been introducing a network of mini-recycling centres in its more rural areas, helping to make it even easier for all people to recycle, bringing the total of recycling centres in the district to over 200.

WEBLINK: www.suffolkcoastal.gov.uk