BOURNEMOUTH is one of the top recycling councils in England.

The council ranks fourth in the latest Government’s league table as having recycled, composted or reused 63.9 per cent of waste collected in the borough in 2010/11.

The figure includes street collections, bring banks, Millhams tip and treatment of refuse.

It was beaten to the top spot by Rochford District Council by just 2.1 per cent but is the only council in the top ten still operating weekly bin collections.

The figures have been released by Defra who say the amount of waste being sent to landfill decreased between 2009 and 2011 by 8.8 per cent to 11.4 million tonnes.

Dry waste such as glass, cans, paper, tetrapaks, cardboard and plastics make up 42 per cent of all waste recycled in the Bournemouth and 22 per cent is from the garden.

All remaining rubbish is taken to New Earth Solutions at Canford Heath in Poole where it processed through a mechanical biological treatment plant. Further waste is extracted for composting and some material is used to generate renewable energy. The remaining material – just 18 per cent – ends up in a hole in the ground.

Council leader, Cllr Peter Charon, said: “We are delighted with our recycling and waste performance and to be achieving 63 per cent is extremely pleasing, especially as we are the only authority in the top ten best performers which is still operating a weekly refuse collection.

“However, we have only been able to achieve these amazing results with the support of local residents and the high figures and participation rate speak for themselves.”

Bournemouth’s recyclables are taken by Viridor to their processing plant in Kent where it is sorted before being sold on as raw materials for the home and overseas market.

Factfile

• Bournemouth Big Bin Little Bin scheme was introduced in 2006. The Big Bin is for co-mingled recycling and is collected fortnightly and the Little Bin is for refuse and is collected weekly. There is also a green bin for all garden waste. Currently around 27,000 households have opted in to the green waste scheme.

• More than 80 per cent of items taken to Millhams Household Recycling Centre each week are recycled

• Bournemouth has a 96 per cent participation rate among households and feedback suggests residents like the simplicity of the scheme

• It costs Bournemouth Council £8million a year to run their weekly waste collection scheme – with around 84,000 households that equates to a weekly cost to each household of £2.21.

Recycling and your council

The percentage of waste recycled, composted or reused in the period in 2010/11:

Bournemouth Borough........64%

Poole Borough.....................40%

Dorset County.......................53%

Purbeck district....................32%

North Dorset.........................34%

East Dorset...........................42%

Christchurch.........................34%

New Forest...........................31%

West Dorset...........................34%