RECYCLING rates for household waste in Bury have more than doubled in eight years to some of the best in the North-West new figures reveal.

In 2010/2011 the borough disposed of just 24 per cent of domestic rubbish collected by the council in an environmentally-friendly way.

But a new analysis of government figures shows that in 2017/18 that had risen to 51.7 per cent - the sixth best in the North-West and placed 66 in a UK national league of 353 local authorities.

The council's own figures for 2018/19 show that the recycling rate has now increased to 58 per cent - well above the government's target for councils to recycle at least half their household waste.

Cllr Alan Quinn, cabinet member for the environment, said: “With the help of Bury residents, we have made huge strides in recycling across the borough in recent years.

“A decade ago, Bury’s recycling rate was approximately 25 per cent.

“We were the first council in England to move to three-weekly collections of non-recyclable waste, which was a controversial decision at the time. But this was not done in isolation – the aim was to divert household waste from landfill sites to being recycled. So we also moved to having four wheelie bins, three of them for recycling: blue bins (for metal, plastic, glass); green (paper/cardboard); and brown (garden/food).

“Our recycling rate has increased dramatically, and is now running at 58 per cent. This goes up to more than 60 during the summer months when people are doing their gardens.

“We also carry out an extensive programme of work in schools and in communities to spread the message about recycling."

Chris Vella-Bone, of InSinkErator which prepared the analysis, said: “This recycling data from DEFRA is a great opportunity to make a real change for the future of our planet."