Council hits 70pc recycling with fortnightly bin collections

Research by the letsrecycle.com website reveals that nine of the 10 English councils with the highest recycling rates now have systems in which rubbish and recycling are collected on alternate weeks, with food waste collected separately for composting.

The controversial system has been criticised by the Tories who have urged a return to weekly bin rounds.

But councils say alternate-week collections work well, are cheaper to manage and that residents are generally happy with them.

As a result, more and more town halls are taking up the alternate-week system, despite pledges in the past by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to reverse the move towards what he called “unpopular and unhygienic” fortnightly rubbish collections.

In its recent waste review, the Government admitted it would not be forcing councils to switch back to weekly collections.

According to letsrecycle.com, South Oxfordshire District Council came top in 2010/11 with a recycling and composting rate of almost 71 per cent.

It has alternate-week collection of rubbish and recycling and a weekly food waste pick-up – the same systems used by Rochford District Council in Essex, and Surrey Heath Borough Council, which came second and third in the poll.

Of the top 10, only Bournemouth Borough Council did not have alternate-week collections.

Biffa, the firm which runs services for South Oxfordshire as well as two other top-10 councils, said the results showed that its system of alternate-week collections, separate food waste collections and pick-ups of “commingled recycling” – in which tins, cans, plastic and paper can all be put into the same bin for collection – is the best way to increase recycling.

Picking up commingled recycling is seen as a more practical alternative to making residents sort their recycling into as many as nine bins or boxes, as some authorities require.

The latest official recycling rates for Yorkshire’s local authorities are due to be released by the Government in the next few months.

Last year Ryedale District Council was the region’s best-performing authority, recycling more than 50 per cent of residents’ waste.