By Charlotte Hall

Stockport Council has ranked among the top 10 local authorities nationally when it comes to waste management.

New data from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has revealed that Stockport sends 60 percent of its household waste to processing sites, making it the number one recycler in Greater Manchester, and in the top 10 nationally.

Recycling rates vary considerably across the 10 local authorities in Greater Manchester, and indeed across the country more generally.

On average, less than 42 percent of household waste collected by councils across England was taken for reuse, recycling or composting in 2022/23, according to the DEFRA statistics. 

Stockport Council manages waste collection in the borough (Image - Alasdair Perry)

The recycling rates varied from just under 18 percent in Tower Hamlets – the lowest in the country – to just under 62 percent in South Oxfordshire, which was the highest.

As a whole, Greater Manchester's average is just over 50 percent.

Cllr Mark Roberts, Stockport's climate change and environment cabinet member, said: "Stockport continues to be the number one urban (municipal) authority in the UK for recycling and it is a team effort between ourselves, the collection teams and our residents."

He noted that the borough collected more than 95,000 tonnes of waste from more than one million household bins last year, with the majority being recycled. 

But hot on their heels came Trafford council, recycling more than 58pc of its residents' bin contents. With the 13th highest waste stat in the country, they belong to the top 20 recyclers out of 333 English local authorities. 

Stockport ranks well above the Greater Manchester average when it comes to recycling (Image - Alasdair Perry)

A spokesperson said "It's great to see that Trafford has one of the top levels of recycling in the Greater Manchester region. The rate shows that Trafford residents are making a conscientious effort to recycle as best they can."

Meanwhile Bury council recycles more than 52 percent of its residents' cast-offs. And both Wigan and Tameside average around 51 percent. 

That's despite recent issues in Stalybridge, Tameside that saw full bins left on the streets, with residents asked to wait up to three weeks for collections – including for bottle and can recycling. 

Bolton recycles 49 percent of waste. and with just half a percent between them Salford (47.6pc) and Rochdale (47.1pc) come in seventh and eighth, while Oldham lagged behind with less than 46pc of waste recycled. 

But it was Manchester City Council that was named and shamed as the worst recyclers of the ten borough councils. Only 39 pc of household waste was recycled. 

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