IT prides itself on being a ‘green’ council.
But Kirklees Council is lagging behind other local authorities when it comes to recycling.
According to official figures Kirklees finished 265th out of 358 councils in England, recycling just over a third (34%) of its household waste between April 2010 and March 2011.
Kirklees performed second worst in West Yorkshire, ahead of Bradford Council (33.8%), and was below the national average (41.2%).
By comparison Calderdale Council performed best in the county, recycling 41% of its domestic waste.
Green councillor Andrew Cooper said the situation would only worsen if the council stopped its glass collections.
The Newsome ward councillor said: “What is being planned needs to help us move forward not backwards.
“I’m concerned about household waste recycling.
“People need to have faith in recycling. It’s something that’s going to save money by preserving resources.
“I’m not happy that we’re slipping down the league table.”
Kirklees did however perform better on reducing the amount of household waste it sent to landfill.
The council put 5% of its waste (just over 9,500 tonnes) into landfill – much better than the English national average of 43.4%.
The remaining waste (126,640 tonnes) was incinerated at Kirklees’s waste plant at Hillhouse, which converts some of the energy from the burning waste into electricity.
A spokesperson for Kirklees Council said: “A fairer picture would be to compare the 2010/11 average recycling performance for the 36 metropolitan authorities which was 35.5%. Kirklees was placed 22nd, which was just below average.
“In terms of West Yorkshire, of the five authorities three actually fell within just one percentage point of each other (Bradford 33.8%, Kirklees 34.0%, Leeds 34.7%) – all close to the metropolitan average.
“Over the four-year period from 2006/7 to 2010/11 recycling rates in Kirklees improved significantly from 22% to 34%. Over the same period the amount of waste sent to landfill fell from 40% to less than 5%.
“Apart from the small Scilly Isles authority which landfilled nothing in 2010/11, Kirklees was the highest performing authority in England for this measure. These both represent significant achievements for Kirklees and its residents.”
