While the Liberal Democrat-controlled authority’s recycling rate actually decreased from 62.7% in financial year 2021/22 to 61.6%, the figure was enough to see it move from second to first in the league tables for English council’s recycling rates.
The council overtook Three Rivers district council, the winner for 2021/2022, which recorded a recycling rate of 61.5% (down from 63.5%). In third place was Vale of White Horse district council, which recorded a recycling rate of 60.9% (down from 61.9%).
As the 2022/23 champions, South Oxfordshire will now receive a prestigious trophy from letsrecycle.com.
‘Proud’
Cllr Sue Cooper, South Oxfordshire district council’s cabinet member for environment, said: “I’m proud of the fact we have been announced as the top recycling area in England. This rating is most of all down to the marvellous effort our residents make to recycle. It is also testament to our sustained commitment to a reduce, reuse, recycle ethos – and our continued successful partnership with our waste contractor, alongside the hard work of our council officers.
“Our message is – keep up the good work – but wherever possible, reduce and reuse. We know this is a continued challenge and that this commitment needs to be reflected nationally at the highest levels.
“We also won’t rest on our laurels – we have work ahead of us to create our new waste strategy – which will aim to further this good work and move towards becoming as environmentally sustainable as possible.”
Bottom
At the other end of the table, the London borough of Tower Hamlets recorded the lowest recycling rate in England at 17.7%, replacing Barrow-in-Furness as the lowest performing council.
Liverpool city council dropped four places to be second bottom at 17.9%. Barrow-in-Furness at 18% rounded off the bottom three.
As outlined below, Defra’s data shows the total household waste recycling, composting and reuse rate for the top 10 English local authorities from April 2022 to March 2023. Figures have been rounded to the nearest decimal point.
Regions
The region that collected the largest amount of recycling in the financial year 2022/2023 was the North West.
Overall, no region showed a recycling rate over 50%.
Waste per person
According to Defra’s figures, the council of the Isles of Scilly collected the most household waste per person for the second year in a row, at 603.3kg. The Isles of Scilly have an estimated population of around 2,150. The council’s recycling rate was 36.3% for this year.
Shropshire council collected the second most in 2022/23 again with 482.9kg, while East Riding of Yorkshire completed the top three by collecting 472.6kg per person.
The London borough of Lambeth collected the least household waste per person, at 214.5kg. The borough of Lambeth represents an estimated population of more than 318,000 people. It had a recycling rate of 31.1%% in 2022/23.
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