Oldham ranked worst at recycling in GM outside city centre

Data compiled by Oflog, a government agency that monitors and supports local authorities' performance in the UK, has revealed that less than half of all households in Oldham recycle.

The dataset recorded the financial year 2021/22, the latest available, and it showed that only 46.5 per cent of residencies in the borough are environmentally conscious, only higher than Manchester's 39.7 per cent - some way behind Stockport's household waste recycling rate at 60.3 per cent.

Neighbouring Rochdale and Tameside have a rate of 50.6 per cent and 52.6 per cent respectively.

While a staggering 416.9kg of residual household waste, which is waste that is left after recyclables have been separated, goes to landfill - around the weight of a horse.

More than 400kg of residual waste goes to landfill in Oldham (Image: Getty/VictorHuang)

It means that the Oldhamers that do recycle, put the third most waste in the wrong bins - compared to other boroughs, only Manchester and Wigan recorded more at 425.6kg and 445.3kg respectively.

However, the borough recorded the third best recycling contamination rate at just 2.1 per cent - although this could be attributed to the lack of recycling by households in Oldham.

Recycling contamination is when material is put in the wrong bin, for example if a plastic bottle was placed in the blue wheelie bin then everything would go to landfill.

A few of the main items that contribute to contamination are drinking glasses as they are made out of toughened glass containing chemicals that can't be recycled with glass bottles and jars, plastic toys and toothpaste tubes - with the latter comprising of multiple materials fused together.

Rochdale boasts the best contamination rate at just 1.1 per cent, while just over one in twenty loads from Manchester go to landfill - 5.9 per cent.

One Oldham wheelie bin floated more than 50km during a storm - starting off at River Tame (Image: COMB / Google Maps)

READ: Oldham wheelie bin that washed ashore in Trafford

While Oldham may not be the most eco-friendly boroughs in Greater Manchester, significant progress has been made in each of the three categories, in the seven years data has been recorded.

Comparing the latest data to the previous financial year of 2020/21, there has been a huge development - underlined by a 9.8 per cent increase to the household waste recycling rate.

Despite having more eco-friendly residents, there was also a large decline in the recycling contamination rate which was 8.5 per cent in 2020/21, and an incredible 88.9kg fewer residual household waste - to put that into perspective, it is a little over 4kg heavier than the average weight of a man in the UK.

Responding to the figures, a spokesperson for the council said: “Like councils across the country, we try to make it as easy as possible for people to recycle and 'go green' by using different coloured bins, sending out information to residents that is easy to understand and by posting regular updates and information.

A North American cornsnake was discovered under a wheelie bin in Royton (Image: Michael Crompton)

READ: Snake discovered under wheelie bin in Royton

“We also believe in educating future generations about how they can 'go green' as our staff regularly visit schools to spread the word.

“And our efforts have succeeded. Our recycling rate in 2021/22 rose by nearly 10 per cent – the fourth highest increase in the country."

The spokesperson added: “Since then, it has dropped only very slightly, so we are almost maintaining our rate.

“Compared to other boroughs our rate is lower but one of the main reasons for this is down to the make up of Oldham’s housing stock.

“A large percentage of our homes are terraced houses with no gardens, which means we’ll never recycle as much green waste as areas such as Trafford, which could be considered ‘leafier’, especially in the summer months."