Liverpool City Council 'disappointed' at being second worst for recycling

Government data showed the city recycled only 17.9% of household waste

A council has said it is "everybody's responsibility" to recycle household waste after figures revealed Liverpool has the second worst rate in England.

Government data showed the city recycled 17.9% of household waste in 2022-2023. South Oxfordshire District Council was the highest with 61.6%.

Laura Robertson-Collins, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said the figures were "disappointing".

"We've got to do better and it's everybody's responsibility," she said.

"It's such an important issue for our city," she said. "It is a really disappointing result in terms in terms of numbers and where we are in a league table."

Liverpool was second worst to London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which had a household recycling rate of 17.7% in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs annual report on local authority collected waste management.

Ms Robertson-Collins said densely populated populated areas, particularly with large numbers of flats and limited storage, had an impact but added people had to recycle more.

"It's not that surprising given in a big city it is harder to store waste and for people to recycle and reuse things," she said.

"It is absolutely about residents committing to recycling as much as they possibly can and it's up to those who provide the services and the way things are collected to make that as simple as possible.

"If we can't compost or reuse things we have to recycle them, it's absolutely essential."

Ms Robertson-Collins said it was "everybody's responsibility" and "we've got to do better".

"There is too much waste and we've really got to get a grip of it," she said.

A Liverpool City Council representative said 40% of waste in the city was related to food waste and 7% of recycled waste was lost due to contamination.

In October the government announced plans to reform recycling in England which included plans to introduce weekly household food waste collections by March 2026.