East Riding residents are England's top recyclers for third year running!

Residents in the East Riding are the top recyclers in the country – for a third year running!

Government figures released on Thursday 28 November show East Riding of Yorkshire Council recycled, reused or composted more household waste than any other council in England in 2018/19.

This is the third year running the East Riding has topped the national results released annually by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) – out of a total of 344 local authorities in the country.

Thanks to the huge support of residents, East Riding of Yorkshire Council was able to recycle, reuse or compost 64.8% of all household waste in the 2018/19 financial year.

A total of 196,440 tonnes of household waste was collected from East Riding residents’ wheelie bins and from the council’s 10 household waste recycling sites between April 2018 and March 2019.

From that 109,314 tonnes of waste was sent for recycling, reuse or for composting.

The national recycling rate for England was 45.1%, slightly up on the 44.8% recorded last year.

Paul Bellotti, director of communities and environment at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “To have the highest recycling rate in England for the third year running is a fantastic achievement for the East Riding.

“We want to send a huge thank you to residents in the East Riding for their continued support and enthusiasm for our recycling schemes. They really are the best recyclers.

“We also want to thank our waste and recycling team and our brilliant bin collection crews, who are out in all weathers emptying people’s bins. Their efforts are very much appreciated by residents.

“As a council our aim is to improve our performance and improve our services for residents.”

East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s recycling rate of 64.8% was an increase on the 64.5% recorded for 2017/18.

Twelve years ago the council was ranked 214th in England with a recycling rate of 24.9%.

The two nearest councils in the national results this year were South Oxfordshire District Council with 63.3%, and Three Rivers District Council with 63%.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s refuse collectors empty the bins of more than 153,000 households each week.

The fortnightly collection service is comprised of a blue bin for recyclable waste, a green bin for non-recyclable waste, and a brown bin for food and garden waste.

The council has 10 household waste recycling sites across the area, plus a Dove House charity reuse shop at the Humberfield household waste recycling site at Hessle/North Ferriby which sells items which residents no longer need but have donated at their local waste and recycling sites.