The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
South Holland is bottom of the pile when it comes to recycling rates in the county.
A survey using figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has revealed that of 338 local authorities in the country, South Holland comes in 318th.
With a recycling rate of 27.3 per cent, South Holland is way behind its local authority partners of Boston and South Kesteven, on 34.8 and 40.4 per cent respectively.
No areas of Lincolnshire are in the top ten or bottom ten places in the survey, in the research conducted by Priory Direct, a packaging company.
St Albans, in Hertfordshire, takes top spot with a rate of 64.2 per cent and Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria, is bottom at 17.9 per cent.
North Lincolnshire is 63rd in the country with a rate of 51.9 per cent.
“Environmental commitments continue to be brandished around but it doesn’t install much confidence when the national average for recycling was down to 42.3 per cent from 43.8 per cent in the previous year,” said a statement from Priory.
Each local authority is responsible for recycling collection – it is not centralised by government.
Recycling materials in South Holland are still collected in plastic sacks, as is the domestic waste, while many councils now use a wheelie bin system.
South Holland is the only district using black bags to collect domestic waste in the county.
Two areas in Lincolnshire are using separate recycling bins, North Kesteven and Boston, with West Lindsey set to follow.
The aim is to have the purple-lid bins for paper and cardboard to be used across the county over the next two years.
South Holland’s neighbouring authorities also fare better.
King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council is at number 219 with a 38 per cent rate; Fenland District Council is number 194 with 40.3 per cent and Peterborough is at 185 with 40.9 per cent recycling rates.
Lincolnshire’s Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy had aimed for 55 per cent recycling by 2025, a figure which it already says is unlikely to be met.
