Wrexham Assembly Member, Lesley Griffiths has welcomed recently released statistics which show Wrexham to be among the Local Authorities driving up record- breaking recycling figures across Wales.
Figures obtained by the Welsh Government show Wrexham Council has for the first time achieved over 50% recycling rates with 50.07 % of all waste being recycled, for July to September 2011 and 50.6% for the June- September period of that year.
This places Wrexham in the top six of the 22 local authorities across Wales, which collectively achieved the record breaking 49% recycling figure for July and September 2011.
The statistics show Wales to have achieved highest quarterly recycling figures ever recorded for Wales or any UK nation.
Across Wales 388 thousand tonnes of municipal waste was produced between July and September 2011, an overall reduction of five percent on the same period one year earlier.
Local Authorities have been set challenging targets of 70% recycling by 2025 by the Labour Welsh Government and a target of ‘zero waste’ which is not recycled by 2050.
The Welsh Government believes it is on target to achieve both and will see more than half of all waste being recycled across Wales from September 2011 onwards.
Commenting, Lesley Griffiths said:
“I believe the Welsh Government has taken a bold step in setting the toughest recycling targets of any UK nation. This ambition is paying dividends which will save both money and the environment long term.
“A few years back a target of half of all waste being recycled would have seemed pie-in- the-sky. However, thanks to the leadership of the Welsh Government we are seeing this figure matched by a number of Local Authorities including Wrexham, and are on the verge of hitting this target across Wales.
“I believe we are on target for our goal of recycling 70% of all waste across Wales, something future generations will thank the leadership and ambition of the todays Welsh Government for in years to come.”
The Figures also show that residual household waste in Wales is on the wane, falling from 68 kilograms to 59 kilograms per person in the year from July September 2010 – 2011.
