Brighton and Hove has worst recycling record in Sussex

According to data released from Defra, less than 30 per cent of household waste in the city was sent for reuse, recycling and composting over the year 2019-2020.

With just 29.4 per cent being recycled, Brighton and Hove is well below the national average of 45.5 per cent, with the worst rate in Sussex and among the worst in the South East of England.

Horsham has the highest rate of recycling in Sussex at 53.3 per cent, while Eastbourne, Crawley and Hastings also scoring poorly - with 31.7 per cent, 30.3 per cent and 29.9 per cent respectively.

Barrow-in-Furness scored worst with just 18.8 per cent of refuse being recycled, while Three Rivers in south-west Hertfordshire has the best record for recycling, with almost two-thirds of household waste being reused or composted.

Brighton and Hove's recycling record places it 33rd among a list of 341 local authorities across England.

A councilspokesman said that recycling efforts are worthwhile and that some local authorities export recycling abroad - where it can end up in landfill.

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He said: "We are working hard to imrpove the number of items collected for recycling overall, and working with partners across our city to create positive change.

"We're looking at food waste, collecting more items, and expanding our highly successful 'tech takeback' scheme that ensures waste electricals are completely recycled or repurposed. The door to door pick-ups we organsied for this were very popular with residents.

"We are also committed to tackling waste at the source - by preventing it in the first place. While we continue to lobby for national action, we are also working with businesses in the city ro reduce waste, particularly single-use plastic.

"While we are keen to improve our recycling rates, we also want to continue to deal with nearly all our waste and recycling within the UK - because we believe it is the right thing to do."

The data comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson was accused of “losing the plastic plot” after telling school children that recycling “doesn’t work” as a means of easing the climate crisis.

The Recycling Association said the Prime Minister’s remarks were “very disappointing”, after he described recycling as a “red herring” and stressed the need to reduce the amount of plastic used and produced.

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Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World At One, chief executive of the Recycling Association Simon Ellin said: “I think he has completely lost the plastic plot here, if I’m honest.

“We need to reduce and I would completely agree with him on that, but his own government has just invested in the resources and waste strategy, which is the most ground-breaking recycling legislation and plan that we’ve ever seen, with recycling right at the front of it.

“He seems to be completely conflicting with his own government’s policy.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman encouraged the public to continue to recycle and said that he was “setting out that recycling alone is not the answer”.

He said: “We’re taking a wide range of action across society to cut pollution.

“Simply relying on recycling alone, as the Prime Minister set out, would be a red herring - we need to go further and take wider action.”

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