THE recycling rate in Dorset is one of the highest in England, according to the latest figures.

About 129,093 tonnes of rubbish, 58 per cent of all waste, was recycled or composted in 2016-2017 in the county council area, says the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The average recycling rate in England is only 43 per cent.

Bournemouth and Poole both recycled 48 per cent of their waste, a figure up three per cent in Poole, but down three per cent in Bournemouth, from the previous year.

Incineration was the second most common way of getting rid of rubbish in Dorset. About 44,467 tonnes of waste was sent to incineration plants to produce electricity, 20 per cent of the total. Another 20 per cent went to landfill.

A report launched last week in the House of Lords stoked the debate on burning waste in Britain.

Politicians have called on the Government to introduce an incineration tax after research suggested that harmful particles released by incinerators in England last year were equivalent to the emissions of more than a quarter-of-a-million 40-tonne lorries travelling 75,000 miles per year.

Shlomo Dowen, of lobby group UK Without Incineration Network, said: "Unfortunately councils are reacting too slowly to the growing public demand for more recycling and less incineration.

"The introduction of an incineration tax would send a clear message to councils and businesses that incineration is not the way forward.

"Money raised through an incineration tax can be spent on better local recycling and re-use schemes."

He added: "The real choice is not between incineration and landfill, but between incineration and recycling."

Over the past two years, the incineration rate in Dorset has remained the same.

In Bournemouth 39 per cent of waste as incinerated, chiefly to produce electricity, and seven per cent went to landfill.

In Poole 35 per cent was incinerated, 14 per cent went to landfill.

The Government aims to recycle half of all household waste by 2020, cutting to 35 per cent the proportion of rubbish going to landfill.

These targets are part of a new strategy drawn up by the European Union and backed up by Theresa May's cabinet in April.