Norfolk councils dump tonnes of unclean recyclables

Tonnes of unrinsed, dirty recyclables are having to be dumped with general waste, newly released figures show.

King's Lynn and West Norfolk Council had the greatest amount of contaminated recyclable waste in the county, with 3,151 tonnes in 2020-21.

Great Yarmouth had the least with 1,764 tonnes, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Recycling charity Wrap said wrongly-disposed waste costs councils £93 per tonne to process.

The figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are estimates from kerbside collections and other sources, such as street recycling bins.

Paul Kunes, cabinet member for the environment at King's Lynn and West Norfolk, said residents recycled more material than in any other local authority area in Norfolk.

"We recognise that putting only the right materials in the recycling bin is really important in maximising the value to the council-tax payers," he added.

Elsewhere, Breckland had 2,531 tonnes, Broadland 2,467, North Norfolk 2,606, Norwich 2,327 and South Norfolk 2,704.

Gordon Bambridge, executive member for waste and the environment at Breckland Council said: "If you've got a pizza box that's still got half a pizza in it, that will be rejected because the buyer of the [recycled] cardboard cannot deal with cheese and pizza.

"Plastic food pots for everything from yoghurt to beef mince can all be recycled, they just need a rinse.

"Tetra packs - drink cartons for milk and fruit juices - are also fully recyclable."

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