This section (produced in November 2007) contains the latest household or municipal waste recycling and composting rates achieved by English local authorities and covers 2006/07. 

UK recycling rates:

England: England 2007/08 England 2006/07 England 2005/06 England 2004/05 England 2003/04 England 2002/03

The results used audited figures produced by Defra.

See below for the top 15 councils in each local authority category (district, unitary and county). For the full set of recycling and composting results for England in 2006/07 please click this link:

• English councils in alphabetical order
• English councils in order of overall performance (total recycling and composting)
• English councils in order of recycling performance (dry recyclables)

For England as a whole, 31% of household waste was recycled in 2006/07, up from from 27% in 2005/6 (amended by by Defra from an earlier 26.7% for 2005/06). No targets were set for 2006/07, while targets for 2007/08 remain the same as 2005/06, but with the lowest council targets rising to 20%.

The letsrecycle.com top 15 (below) shows the best combined recycling and composting performances for each type of local authority in 2006/07: Districts & boroughs; Counties; Unitary and metropolitan authorities

Note: Figures for county councils and other disposal authorities include all waste collected for recycling or disposal by the WDA and their constituent waste collection authorities.

For similar top 15 tables for 2005/06, please click here: 2005/06 Districts & Boroughs; 2005/06 Counties; 2005/06 Unitary and metropolitan authorities

District and borough councils
Rank	Authority	Dry recycling %	Green recycling %	Total %
1	North Kesteven	28.08	27.41	55.49
2	South Shropshire	21.84	31.36	53.2
3	Rushcliffe	27.07	25.11	52.18
4	Huntingdonshire	24.49	27.23	51.72
5	Ryedale	20.13	30.88	51.01
6	South Cambridgeshire	18.24	32.74	50.98
7	Teignbridge	19.84	30.6	50.44
8	St Edmundsbury	23.2	26.83	50.03
9	South Hams	27.7	21.06	48.76
10	Harborough	19.64	28.96	48.6
11	Waveney	26.33	22.08	48.41
12	Melton	22.79	25.11	47.9
13	Lichfield	23.31	24.28	47.59
14	Fenland	19.54	27.83	47.37
15	Daventry	17.1	29.93	47.03

County councils
Rank	Authority	Dry recycling %	Green recycling %	Total %
1	Cambridgeshire	22.08	26.42	48.5
2	Somerset	26.5	20.78	47.28
3	Devon	26.2	19.6	45.8
4	Suffolk	23.92	18.98	42.9
5	Leicestershire	20.57	21.96	42.53
6	Dorset	23.78	18.56	42.34
7	Lincolnshire	23.27	17.04	40.31
8	Buckinghamshire	23.51	16.59	40.1
9	Northamptonshire	21.4	17.9	39.3
10	Lancashire	24.83	13.91	38.74
11	Norfolk	26.1	12.36	38.46
12	Oxfordshire	22.83	15.52	38.35
13	Wiltshire	24.24	14.04	38.28
14	Shropshire	17.81	20.11	37.92
15	Nottinghamshire	25.29	12.54	37.83

Unitary and metropolitan councils
Rank	Authority	Dry recycling %	Green recycling %	Total %
1	Peterborough	19.22	24.53	43.75
2	Bexley, London	22.21	17.79	40
3	York	23.3	16.63	39.93
4	Bath and North East Somerset	25.59	14.24	39.83
5	South Gloucestershire	20.76	18.78	39.54
6	North Lincolnshire	17.27	21.15	38.42
7	Bournemouth	29.11	7.16	36.27
8	Redcar and Cleveland	20.86	15.03	35.89
9	Bracknell Forest	23.93	11.56	35.49
10	Milton Keynes	24.38	10.57	34.95
11	Telford and Wrekin	19.82	15.09	34.91
12	Wokingham	22.82	11.17	33.99
13	Poole Borough	23.32	10.26	33.58
14	Derby City	18.63	14.09	32.72
15	Medway	20.12	12.27	32.39

Data taken from Defra statistics