Waste review urged as recycling rate drops

Councillor Mark Wilkes pointed to new recycling schemes in Durham

A council has been urged to conduct a "complete root and branch review" of its waste disposal methods.

Household recycling rates have decreased in County Durham, where Green Party councillor Jonathan Elmer has called for change.

Since 2015, Durham County Council's incineration rates have also fallen while the proportion of waste sent to landfill has risen.

The council said it was the highest performing in north-east England for recycling household waste in 2022/23.

The authority unveiled major changes last month, with households set to receive new containers to store food waste and new rules for recycling glass coming into force by 2026.

'Carbon impact'

Responding to the latest figures at a council scrutiny meeting, Elmer said: "It's time for a complete root and branch review of our waste management strategy."

The member for Brandon also urged the authority to avoid relying on incinerators, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He said: "One of the problems with these very large facilities is it could result in a reduction of recycling rates because there's a place for everything to be burnt.

"I'm worried that we're locked into a direction that doesn't seem to appear to be favoured at the moment.

"It potentially impacts not only our future recycling rates but also our future carbon emissions."

Mark Wilkes, the Liberal Democrat cabinet member for climate change, said the council was "committed to introducing new and innovative ways to make it easier for residents to recycle items that would generally be disposed of as waste".

This included several recently introduced schemes for recycling small electrical items, vapes, medical equipment and coffee pods.

He said: "Our waste strategy is and always will be based on the nationally agreed waste hierarchy, with re-use and repair being our top priority."