Valley named one of worst areas in north west for recycling

NICK HUGHES

ROSSENDALE has been rated as one the worst boroughs for recycling in a ‘disappointing’ study.

The study by the government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) investigated the waste management of local authorities across England from 2015-2016.

DEFRA set a target for councils to recycle 50 per cent of household waste by 2020, however Rossendale was found only to be recycling 33.7 per cent, one of the lowest in the north west.

Jake Berry, MP for Rossendale, said: “We need to do all we can to encourage people to recycle and use resources efficiently.

“We generate about 177 million tonnes of waste every year in England alone, a poor use of resources that costs businesses and households money.

“It also causes environmental damage: for example, waste sent to landfill produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. It’s disappointing to hear that locally we are not performing as well as we should.

“I will gladly work with our local council to see what we can do to improve and I would urge everyone locally to reduce, reuse and recycle all we can, and throw things away only as a last resort.”

Only seven of the north west’s 42 authorities achieved a recycling rate of 50 per cent or higher with Fylde recording the highest in Lancashire with 52.4 per cent.

Rossendale council blamed budget cuts for falling recycling rates but insists its collection service is unaffected.

A spokesperson said: “Most local councils, like ourselves, are finding that their recycling rates are stalling or falling as budget cuts are realised.

“Central government and the county council have reduced budgets for waste education and promotion of household waste initiatives, which previously has had a large part to play in the level of recycling rates.

“Our own budget from central government has also been cut, which means we have no way to expand collection and recycling services at the moment.

“Our recycling collection service provision has remained unaffected despite budgetary changes.

“We continually strive to promote recycling and increase figures, our bin calendar that gets delivered to every household in Rossendale always contains recycling advice in a bid to inform residents and increase recycling rates.”