East Riding residents are the best recyclers in the country – it is official!

Residents in the East Riding are the number one recyclers in the country.

Government figures released yesterday (Tuesday 5 December) show East Riding of Yorkshire Council recycles more household waste than any other council in England. The council beat 349 other authorities to take the top position for the first time.

Thanks to the help of residents the authority was able to recycle or compost 65.4% of all household rubbish in the 2016-2017 financial year. The average national recycling rate for England was 45.1%.

Last year the East Riding was second in the national results released annually by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Councillor Symon Fraser, the council’s portfolio holder for strategic asset management, housing and environment, said: “We’re chuffed to bits with this result and it proves that East Riding residents really are the best recyclers in the country.

“I want to say a big thank you to our amazing residents for their continued support of our recycling schemes, because they deliver these recycling results, not us. This result is a reflection of the dedication and teamwork of the council’s waste and recycling staff, it is also a tribute to the hard work and commitment of everybody involved. We’re always looking at ways to improve and refine our service and we’re always helping and encouraging people to recycle. And our refuse collection teams do a fantastic job. They are genuinely part of the community and very much appreciated by the public.”

The Government figures show that a total of 171,529 tonnes of waste was collected from residents’ wheelie bins and at the council’s household waste recycling sites between April 2016 and March 2017. From that 112,130 tonnes of that waste was recycled, composted or reused.

The figure of 65.4% of waste recycled in the East Riding was down slightly on the 66.1% recorded for the authority for the previous year, 2015/2016, but the council still topped the table for the whole of England.

The two nearest councils in the national results were Rochford District Council in Essex in second place with 63.9% of rubbish recycled, and South Oxfordshire District Council in third place with 63.8%. Two years ago the East Riding was in 22^nd place on the table. The national average recycling rate of 45.1% was the highest annual figure on record, up on last year’s figure of 44.4%.