The commission's waste management inspection of the Royal Borough, pulished last week said the borough's recycling performance of 7.59% was poor compared with other London boroughs.
Kensington and Chelsea “remains a long way off the borough's statutory target for 2003/2004,” it added.
The report added that there was no clear strategic statement or articulated plans setting out how the council would meet the challenging statutory recycling targets of 22% and 33% by 2003/4 and 2005/6 respectively.
The drop in performance from 8.67% in 2001/2 also falls short of the 12% target set by the council within the Best Value Performance Plan. However this was linked to the closure of the council's Crembourne Material Recycling Facility which has now been re-opened.
The report recommended that the borough ensures its service plan for 2004/2005 underpins the delivery of a clear Municipal Waste Strategy and includes priorities for improvement.
However, it said that overall the borough did provide a 'fa;ir' service and had promising prospects for improvement.
To aid improvement, Kensington and Chelsea has secured external funding from the London Recycling Fund to expand recycling infrastructure (more green and blue bins) and increased participation though an innovative team of recycling wardens.
These are assigned to educate the 159,100 residents on how and why they should recycle and to ensure that collection crews are collecting as required.
It is also currently undertaking a 12 month trial of doorstep collections of recyclables on high rise estates working with caretakers in Lancaster West.
Whilst it is working on improving its recycling rates, the borough, which is part of Western Riverside Waste Authority, was criticised for its internal environmental performance.
“There is lack of a strong corporate commitment to improving the council's own internal environmental performance and leading by example,” said the report.
Kensington and Chelsea were unavailable to comment.
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