Hundreds of tons of rubbish rejected at Shropshire recycling sites

Contaminated recycling waste means that huge amounts of rubbish put forward for recycling is not being processed.

But Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Powys are faring much better than in other parts of the country.

New figures reveal 504 tons of waste left on the kerbside for recycling or in Shropshire composting was 'unrecyclable', from a total of 39,994 tons.

Paul Beard, Shropshire Council's waste contracts manager, said: "This equates to about 1.3 per cent, which reflects well on Shropshire residents and on the staff providing the service."

The figures are similar for Telford & Wrekin, which show that in 2015/16, only just over five per cent of the 8,245 tons of the rubbish collected was rejected – about 422 tons.

Councillor Angela McClements, cabinet member for transport, neighbourhood and customer services, said: "The figures in Telford & Wrekin compare very favourably with other parts of the country and they are improving still.

"It demonstrates the enhanced service we are providing and the continued support we get from our residents to recycle, both of which enable us to achieve such good results."

In Powys, 2,366 tonnes of recycling was collected, with only 178 tonnes rejected, a total of 7.52 per cent, and a drop from the previous year when 11.03 per cent could not be recycled.

The figures relate to recycling put out by households into the boxes for kerbside collections. Recyclable waste placed in general waste bins are not sorted, so no figures are available.

John Evans, a spokesman for Powys County Council, said: "At household waste centres all materials are separated into different skips so the reject is diverted into residual skips at source and so not comparable."

According to the Shropshire Council website, each household in Shropshire produces more than a ton of waste every year, more than 50 per cent of which is recycled.

Telford & Wrekin Council residents recycled more than 2,000 tonnes more in 2015 than the previous year, an increase of 17 per cent.

By comparison, neighbouring authority Stafford Borough Council said seven per cent of waste put into recycling bins is non-recyclable. Recycled materials are distributed to processing facilities around the country. Some materials, such as glass, are exported to Portugal to be crushed and melted down to make glass bottles.

After several years of not being able to collect cardboard, Shropshire Council relaunched its waste collection service, run by Veolia, at the start of October last year.