East Cambridgeshire District Council is celebrating the recycling and waste reduction efforts of its residents which has seen the district move from 38^th to 27^th out of 341 local authorities across the country.

Annual data, which reviews recycling in local authority areas, is published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). 

The latest data shows that East Cambridgeshire has improved its recycling rate, beating all other local authorities in Cambridgeshire for 2019/20.

Councillor David Ambrose Smith, Chairman of the Operational Services Committee, said: “Our improving recycling rate and position nationally is a testament to all of the hard work being undertaken by our residents.

“We are incredibly proud of this position however, we must not rest on our laurels and we will continue to strive for a higher recycling rate of 65% which is set out in our 2020-23 corporate plan.”

Compared with DEFRA’s figures from 2010/11, the district has seen their recycling rate increase by more than 20%, up from just 37.3% to 56.5% and black sack waste reduction by 134.1kg, from 502.3kg to 368.2kg per household.

Councillor Julia Huffer, member champion for waste and recycling, said: “This is a great achievement for East Cambridgeshire and one that every resident should be proud of as it is their daily efforts that secured us these amazing results.

“More and more of us take our responsibility for looking after the environment very seriously and as a Council, will we continue support our residents’ ambitions to reduce waste and recycle more which will help us progress to a greener future.”

The overall household recycling rate 2019/20 for England is 45.5%.

• The findings from the DEFRA report