More than 40% of town's recycling not recycled

Westmorland and Furness council was asked when it would get "its act together"

A significant proportion of a town's recycling was sent to landfill or incinerated, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.

The figures for April 2023 to March 2024 show 41.5% of the kerbside collections for residents in the former Barrow Borough Council area were rejected for being unsuitable or contaminated.

This compares with 2.7% the former South Lakeland area and 3.1% for the former Eden area.

Westmorland and Furness Council Liberal Democrat cabinet member Giles Archibald said recycling rates in the Barrow locality were "not where they should be" and work was being carried out to make services more effective and efficient.

The FOI by the Local Democracy Reporting Service showed 721,716 stone (4,583,110 kg) of waste put out for recycling by Barrow residents was collected but 299,227 stone (1,900,180 kg) was rejected and sent to landfill or incinerated.

Barrow Borough Council moved its waste services in-house in October 2022 after it was previously provided by an external contractor.

'Avoiding contamination'

Local government reorganisation in April 2023 then saw Westmorland and Furness Council take over responsibility for services provided by the authority, along with those of Eden District Council, South Lakeland District Council and Cumbria County Council.

At a council meeting in January, Conservative group deputy leader Matt Brereton asked when the administration was going to get "its act together" with waste collection.

Archibald said work was being done to "harmonise waste and recycling services" and make them more efficient.

"We recognise that recycling rates in the Barrow locality are not where they should be," he said.

The council needed to educate residents about the importance of minimising waste and help them "better understand which items could be recycled so that only these items are placed in the recycling box and bin, avoiding contamination which reduces recycling", he said.