FAILING Ipswich Borough Council has announced a war on waste, after it was announced that a quarter of local authorities will miss their recycling targets for 2005/2006.

By Tracey Sparling

FAILING Ipswich Borough Council has announced a war on waste, after it was announced that a quarter of local authorities will miss their recycling targets for 2005/2006.

Friends of the Earth announced the nation's dismal recycling record after obtaining an unpublished government report, which revealed the UK has one of the worst recycling rates in Europe at 12 per cent.

The UK has to ensure that two thirds of waste is diverted from landfill sites by 2020.

But Ipswich has not yet reached an existing target to recycle 18pc of household rubbish, and now a new 20pc target, has been introduced for councils.

A total of 12,000 more recycling bins are to be distributed by the council, which claims the new initiative will help it to keep on course to reach and possibly exceed the recycling target of 18pc by the year 2005.

The council already provides nearly 17,500 households with bins for recycling green waste.

In the autumn the figure will increase to nearly 30,000 – more than half the households within the borough boundaries.

The increase in the number of bins for green waste will cost £257,000 and the council is also planning to introduce a trial kerbside collection service for "dry" materials capable of being recycled – paper, cans, textiles, plastics and cardboard.

Penny Breakwell, the council's environment spokeswoman, said: "We are making great strides forward and Ipswich people are certainly ready for the challenge.

"They know we cannot simply carry on burying and burning millions of tonnes of waste."

Senior waste campaigner for FOE, Mike Childs, said: "This report shows that the government is making a mess of recycling.

"The government must make local authorities provide people with a decent recycling service, and must provide them with the money to do so. If they fail to do this, the UK ill still be regarded as the dirty man of Europe."

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