EAST Lancashire’s seven councils recycle more than a third of household rubbish, below the national average for reclaiming and reusing domestic waste.

Only Chorley at 48 per cent does better than the England national median figure of 43.5 per cent for local authority performance.

The North-West average is 41.3 per cent with Blackburn with Darwen at 40.1 per cent, according to figures from the government and SITA.

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Rossendale is the worst-performing East Lancashire council at just 32.1per cent while Hyndburn recycled 34.5 per cent of its rubbish.

Pendle borough managed 36.7 per cent, Ribble Valley 37.6 per cent and Burnley 32.7 per cent.

In the North West region, Stockport Council easily retains the highest recycling rate in the North West with a recycling rate of 61.1 per cent placing it as the fifth best performing authority in England Liverpool City Council has the lowest recycling rate in the region with 26.9 per cent whereas Manchester has a rate of 34.9 per cent.

The average recycling rate of the North West region is 41.3 per cent , slightly lower than the national average.

The regional average drops to 40.8 per cent if Stockport, the highest performing authority by some distance, is removed.

SITA UK Chief Executive Officer, David Palmer-Jones said: “The household recycling figures for England’s local authorities continue to paint a picture of a nation stuck in the doldrums when it comes to recycling with the national average recycling rate flat-lining around 44 per cent for the second year in a row.

“With dwindling recycling rates and less than six years to go, the risk of the UK missing its EU target of a 50 per cent recycling rate by 2020 is increasing.

“Despite a small annual increase in England’s household recycling rate, the pace of improvement is far off that required to place the UK back on a greener path to resource security.

“Active leadership and a policy sea change is needed at national government level to put the country’s recycling performance back on a faster upward trend.

“We believe that minimum targets for local authority recycling rates, alongside financial support from Government to improve communications and infrastructure, will help local authorities meet our targets.

“Our industry is ready to play its part.”