Mid Suffolk beats green targets

RECYCLING-conscious residents in mid Suffolk have helped make the district the greenest in the country.

Over a third of household waste in the Mid Suffolk District Council area is recycling, making it the best performing local authority in England.

Its rate of 34.2 per cent made the authority one of a few success stories in the survey which the GMB union used to criticise councils for not meeting Government targets.

Roy Barker, Mid Suffolk's portfolio holder for environment, praised the efforts of its residents.

“This is great news for us,” he said. “Firstly a big thank you to our residents who have made a huge effort in making sure that all that can be recycled is. Our aim now is to improve these figures further. Maybe next year if we all work hard we can get closer to 40pc.

“We must also acknowledge the excellent work our council officers are doing to promote the importance of recycling in schools, working together with our parish and town councils and directly with our residents to make sure that they are aware of how and what to recycle.”

While Mid Suffolk managed a 34.2pc recycling rate, Liverpool came bottom in the English league table, at 8.4pc.

Babergh was Suffolk's other top district, the 16th highest performing with a rate of 28.9pc.

The GMB said there was still too much household waste, and not enough of it was being recycled.

National officer Brian Strutton said: “The UK is nowhere near Government recycling targets. GMB refuse workers are handling around 350,000 tonnes of household waste a week, of which only a fifth is recycled.

“Looking at the pattern over recent years it is clear that many authorities are improving and that is particularly true for those at the lower end of the league table. Only four years ago average recycling rates were an eighth, now they are a fifth.

“That's a good step forward. Unfortunately there seems to be an upper limit, with few councils able to crack the 30pc rate.”