Wiltshire Council is celebrating after reaching the milestone of recycling one million tonnes of household waste – equal to two Silbury Hills saved from landfill sites.

It has taken the county 15 years to hit the target, but officials are delighted that enough waste to fill 31,250 refuse trucks, which nose to tail would stretch from Trowbridge to Leeds, has been put to an alternative use.

The drive to increase recycling began with the introduction of the landfill tax in 1996, when the then county council signed an agreement with Marlborough-based Hills Waste Solutions to handle its municipal waste.

At that time the county had only two household recyling centres, at Salisbury and Warminster, but a further nine have since been opened, while fortnightly refuse rounds and kerbside collections of cans, glass and paper have also helped increase recycling rates.

Andy Conn, head of waste management at Wiltshire Council, said: “We’re very happy. It’s thanks to the hard work Hills have done, as well as residents who responded to the service changes.

“There are environmental and financial benefits, and there’s a community element to it as well.

“The main financial pressure is the landfill tax, which is £56 per tonne this year and will be £80 per tonne in three year’s time.”

The average household in Wiltshire now recycles 41 per cent of its waste, which adds up to some 90,200 tonnes per year.

At the present rate Wiltshire’s landfill capacity will run out in 15 years. The council has set itself a target of upping household recycling rates to 50 per cent by the end of next year, and is confident of achieving this as more waste collection changes are brought in.

By spring next year every household in Wiltshire will have kerbside cardboard and plastic collections and free compost bin collections.

Mike Hill, chief executive of Hills Waste Solutions, said: “We’re over the moon. It took us 11 years to get the first 500,000 tonnes, four years to get the second and hopefully it will only take us a couple to get the next 500,000 tonnes.

“When we started in 1996 we only had two household recycling centres, in Salisbury and Warmin-ster. Earlier this year the council opened the 11th in Marlborough and this is in addition to the kerbside collections which have been going since 2003.”