Recycling rates have increased in Swindon with the borough is now reusing slightly more of the rubbish it collects than the England national average.

But it is still short of national and EU targets.

Figures released by the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs show Swindon Borough Council recycled 45 per cent of all the rubbish it collected in 2018/19.

That’s 42,753 tonnes, and a higher proportion than the previous year’s 44 per cent.

It’s also higher than the England national average rate of 43 per cent for the year.

But the government has set a target for all councils in England to recycle half of the waste they collect by next year.

Leader of the borough council David Renard has called for manufacturers, rather than consumers and householders, to play more of a part in reducing and recycling waste.

He said: “Councils want to increase recycling rates and have worked extremely hard to maintain them.

“The fact that recycled food waste has increased, waste sent to landfill has fallen and residual waste has decreased, reflects ongoing efforts by councils and is good news for the environment and consumers.”

Speaking about the decrease in recycling rates as a whole across England, he added: “The slight fall in the official recycling rates last year reflects the urgent need for manufacturers to stop putting non-recyclable items in the system, pay the full cost of recycling packaging and fund a producer responsibility scheme.”

Although it has some way to go to meet the 50 per cent target, Swindon sends very little of its waste to landfill. Last year DEFRA said that was just eight per cent.

The rest is turned into fuel by the solid fuel recovery plant operated by the council’s company Public Power solutions at the Waterside Park recycling facility.

Rubbish from black wheelie bins is dried and minced and formed into huge blocks of fuel, which are used by the cement-making industry.

In September 11,000 homes across the borough were issued with green food waste caddies for a 26-week trial collecting kitchen scraps and left-overs.

If that goes well the council will look at collecting food waste from every house in the borough.

In the first month of the trial 56 tonnes of material was collected and sent to be recycled into fertiliser by anaerobic digestion.