City near bottom of the pile for waste recycling

CHANGES ON WAY AFTER COUNCIL IS RANKED 329TH OUT OF 343

- By JOSEPH LOCKER Local Democracy Reporter

A RAFT of changes have been planned to boost Nottingham’s recycling rates after figures revealed the council to be one of the “lowest performing” in the country.

Some of the changes include a shakeup in how bins are collected, more staff and the collection of materials that would have otherwise ended up in general waste bins.

Data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) revealed Nottingham was ranked among the lowest performing councils for recycling, positioned 329th out of 343 councils in 2022/23.

The percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling, or composting, was just 25%, according to the figures. Nationally, rates have stagnated at around 40% — below the Government's target of 65% by 2035.

During a people, communities and environment scrutiny committee meeting on Wednesday, councillors discussed plans for improvements. Councillor David Mellen (Lab) said he was concerned with larger firms using large amounts of packaging for online deliveries, as well as difficulties in recycling in high-rise blocks.