‘Urgent’ action needed to improve recycling rates in Chesterfield, councillor says

According to latest statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the council recycled 44.1 per cent of household waste in 2018-19.

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In a national league table of recycling rates across all 345 local authorities in England, Chesterfield Borough Council is in 148th place.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Tom Snowdon, who represents the Walton ward on the council, said: “Year-on-year, Chesterfield’s recycling figures are getting worse.

“In 2018-19, recycling was at 44.1 per cent.

“Even more worrying, this is less than that achieved in 2017-18, when 46.3 per cent of the household waste collected was recycled or composted.

“This is just not good enough.

“There is no excuse – similar borough councils in the East Midlands are performing much better than we are.

“For example, Rushcliffe is at position 92 (48.8 per cent) and Kettering at 95 (48.5 per cent).

“But really I’m less bothered by league tables than by the Labour-controlled council’s failure to take action to radically improve performance.

“The climate emergency won’t wait – and neither should we.”

Councillor Jill Mannion-Brunt, cabinet member for health and well-being, said ‘more can be done’ to improve recycling rates.

She said: “Encouraging everyone across the borough to recycle as much of their waste as possible is a key priority for the council, and the ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ message is a central theme within our Climate Change Action Plan.

“Nationally, there is a recycling target of 50 per cent.

“We are currently awaiting data for our 2020 recycling rates, but latest figures from 2019 put our recycling rates above the national average for England of 43.5 per cent – we ranked 148th out of 345 councils across England for our rate of 44.1 per cent.

“We know more can be done and we are developing plans to further increase the recycling rate in Chesterfield, including ongoing campaigns to encourage everyone across the borough to recycle more.”

The council’s website states: “Our target is to recycle 50 per cent of the waste collected by 2020.”

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