Environment Minister Alex Attwood has welcomed figures which showed a 6% drop in household waste and a 5.2% increase in household recycling.

Household waste for the first three months of this year was 194,472 tonnes, a 6% drop compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period there was also a rise in the tonnage of household recycling (which includes composting) from 70,313 to 74,003 tonnes, a 5.2% increase. These factors drove the household waste collected by Councils for recycling to 38.1% an increase by 4.1 percentage points.

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Increasing the household recycling rate is one of the key commitments of the Executive’s Programme for Government 2011-15.

Mr Attwood said: "It is pleasing to see a further decrease in the waste generated by householders and I commend all those people diligently protecting our environment by reducing waste. Individuals and families play a vital role collectively in tackling waste. At the same time it is very encouraging to see a year-on-year increase in the recycling tonnage collected by the Councils. We can and I am confident we will do much more. That is why I recently announced a 60% recycling target for 2020. We will all need to make every effort, both at home and at work, if we are to achieve it. Whilst it is a long term challenge it’s the right thing to do for this and future generations."

(CD)