Kent\u2019s best and worst recyclers can today be revealed – just months before sweeping new national rules will overhaul how bins are collected.<\/p>\n
From March, councils will have to provide standardised collections of glass, metal, plastic, paper, card, and food waste from every household in England as part of the government\u2019s plan to drive up recycling rates.<\/p>\n
Household waste collections and the number of bins will become standardised across the country from March under government plans<\/p>\n
The aim is to ensure \u201cconsistency\u201d across the country – meaning the number and type of bins outside people\u2019s homes will soon look much the same wherever they live.<\/p>\n
The government has set an ambitious target for 65% of household waste to be recycled by 2035.<\/p>\n
But new figures obtained by KentOnline reveal that Kent\u2019s overall performance still has a long way to go.<\/p>\n
According to verified data for the 2023-24 financial year, our councils recycled, reused, or composted 41.7% of household waste, with just 0.4% going to landfill. The rest is sent for \u201cenergy recovery\u201d, meaning it is burned to generate electricity for the National Grid.<\/p>\n
Some argue local authorities should be \u201cdoing more\u201d for the sake of the environment – but others believe we may have already reached \u201cpeak recycling\u201d.<\/p>\n
The best and the worst recyclers in Kent<\/strong><\/p>\n Across the county, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC) came out on top – while Dartford was the worst performer, recycling less than half as much.<\/p>\n The former recycles more than 52% of its waste, the highest rate in Kent.<\/p>\n Cllr Rob Wormington (Lib Dem), TWBC\u2019s cabinet member for environment, said: \u201cOur officers work hard with local residents and other stakeholders to achieve these results.<\/p>\n \u201cThey should be really proud of the progress they have made on this front.\u201d<\/p>\n A council spokesperson added: \u201cWe are very grateful to residents who play their part in recycling.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is always room for improvement and it would be great to see if we can increase the amount we recycle.\u201d<\/p>\n At the other end of the table, Dartford Borough Council (DBC) has consistently recorded the lowest rate in Kent, remaining in the mid-20s percentages since 2017.<\/p>\n Provisional stats for 2024-25, not yet verified by the government, show little change.<\/p>\n Council leader Cllr Jeremy Kite (Con) has repeatedly defended the figures, saying: \u201cOur recycling percentages are low, but our volumes are about what you\u2019d expect them to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Figures from Kent County Council show Dartford produced far more non-recyclable waste than any other district in 2023-24 \u2013 at 604kg per household.<\/p>\n The next highest was Sevenoaks at 554kg, while the Kent average was 450kg.<\/p>\n Cllr Kite argues the lower recycling rate is partly due to Dartford continuing with weekly general waste collections – something most other districts dropped years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not anti-recycling, we\u2019re just pro-good service,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf our residents said we want our recycling percentages up, we would do it.\u201d<\/p>\n While most Kent councils operate a fortnightly system – with general waste and recycling collected on alternating weeks – Dartford collects general waste every week and recycling every two weeks.<\/p>\n Cllr Kite added: \u201cSuccessive governments have said you must get your recycling percentages up but the only way to do that realistically is to cut your other services back.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re frankly less interested in the percentages than we are in our customer satisfaction and service.<\/p>\n \u201cWe run a really good service at the council – it\u2019s a jewel in the crown.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018We should be doing more\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n However, Dartford Green councillor Laura Edie says the borough needs to take recycling more seriously.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t keep ignoring the environmental issues,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a real worry – and I just think that it\u2019s never been more important to look after the environment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see the impacts of climate change with flooding etc. It\u2019s going to really impact us and we need to do our bit as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n She believes part of the problem is confusion among residents over what can be recycled.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel as a council we maybe need to get some more messaging out there to point out how important it is to recycle and maybe give people more recycling space,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s lots we definitely need to be doing and we can\u2019t just say, \u2018It\u2019s what the people want\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to go that step further to make sure we can give people what they need to make those right decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Have we reached \u2018peak recycling?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Over the years, KCC has reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill from 21% in 2012\/13 to just 0.4% today.<\/p>\n The council\u2019s waste disposal strategy says: \u201cOur ambition is to deliver a high-quality household waste disposal service, whilst remaining cost-effective for the people of Kent, with an emphasis on waste reduction, reuse, recycling and achieving zero landfill.\u201d<\/p>\n The government\u2019s standardisation of bins across the country also aims to \u201cmaximise environmental benefits\u201d.<\/p>\n From March, the new default requirement for most households will be four bins, with one of each of the following containers: residual (non-recyclable) waste; food waste; paper and card; all other dry recyclable materials (plastic, metal and glass).<\/p>\n These may be various container types, including bags, bins or stackable boxes.<\/p>\n Food waste will have to be collected weekly, and from 2027, councils will also have to collect plastic films such as carrier bags and food wrappers, which currently can only be recycled at supermarkets.<\/p>\n However, some believe we may have already hit \u201cpeak recycling\u201d.<\/p>\n At a recent meeting of Folkestone & Hythe District Council\u2019s overview and scrutiny committee, the coming changes were discussed.<\/p>\n Andrew Rush, the council\u2019s chief officer for regulatory and community services, told members: \u201cWhen recycling started, I think people thought it was going to just glide ever upwards without any particular effort and that\u2019s just not the case.<\/p>\n \u201cHave we reached peak recycling? Have we peaked at 46%? And the answer is possibly so.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kent\u2019s best and worst recyclers can today be revealed – just months before sweeping new national rules will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[605,606,2097,19289,29264,728,608,2418,18942,47913,49585,495,9137,56205,607,285,2419,48013,70,81445,69243,1510,60226,104690,16,15,15589],"class_list":{"0":"post-508746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ashford","9":"tag-canterbury","10":"tag-dartford","11":"tag-deal","12":"tag-dover","13":"tag-environment","14":"tag-faversham","15":"tag-folkestone","16":"tag-gravesham","17":"tag-herne-bay","18":"tag-hythe","19":"tag-kent","20":"tag-maidstone","21":"tag-malling","22":"tag-medway","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-romney-marsh","25":"tag-sandwich","26":"tag-science","27":"tag-sevenoaks","28":"tag-tenterden","29":"tag-thanet","30":"tag-tonbridge","31":"tag-tunbridge-wells","32":"tag-uk","33":"tag-united-kingdom","34":"tag-whitstable"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115393725985059252","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The recycling rates for every local authority area in Kent – 2024-25 figures are provisional<\/p>\n
Cllr Rob Wormington (Liberal Democrat) of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. Picture: TWBC<\/p>\n
Leader of Dartford Borough Council, Cllr Jeremy Kite<\/p>\n
Dartford Green councillor Laura Edie<\/p>\n
Across Kent councils give residents different numbers of bins for different types of waste<\/p>\n