Hertfordshire residents threw away the equivalent of 378kg of household waste per person last year (2025) – which is 16kg less than the year before.

And just over half of that waste – collected at the kerbside or left at one of the county's recycling centres – was recycled, re-used or composted.

The data – detailing the amount of waste collected and disposed of across the county in 2025 – was presented to the latest meeting of the Herts Waste Partnership.

It shows that on average every person in the county took 61kg of household waste and recycling to the county's network of recycling centres last year, with the rest collected at the kerbside.

It shows the amount of household waste collected at the kerbside was lower in every one of the county's 10 districts and boroughs than the year before.

The trend has been welcomed by the chair of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, Cllr Tim Williams.

"It's great to see that Hertfordshire's household waste per person has dropped by 16kg from the previous year," said Cllr Williams, who is a Liberal Democrat member of Hertfordshire County Council and Watford Borough Council.

"By reducing the waste that we generate, we also reduce our environmental impacts and our councils' costs.

"It's also encouraging that we've seen a reduction across all 10 of the Hertfordshire districts and boroughs."

The data also breaks down the data according to each of the 10 districts and boroughs, revealing where in the county residents are throwing away the most – and where they are more likely to recycle.

According to the data, the area where the most household waste was collected at the kerbside was Dacorum, where there was the equivalent of 333kg per person.

The lowest was in Watford, where the amount collected was 288kg.

Elsewhere in the county, the amount of household waste collected in 2025, per person, was Broxbourne 316kg; East Herts 327kg; Hertsmere 310kg; North Herts 312kg; St Albans 316kg; Stevenage 321kg; Three Rivers 323kg; and Welwyn Hatfield 304kg.

In a further breakdown, the data also reveals how much of the county's overall household waste was recycled – and how much was classed as residual.

Residual waste is that which is not reused, recycled or composted, and is typically sent to landfill or an energy recovery facility for disposal.

Of the 61kg of waste per person collected at the county's recycling centres, 22kg was residual waste. 64.5% was either reused, recycled or composted.

Around the county, Three Rivers was the area with the lowest amount of residual waste collected per person at the kerbside (129kg) in 2025.

According to the data, the district recorded the highest proportion of waste that was reused, recycled or composted (60%).

Stevenage bins contained the highest amount of residual waste per person (203kg). And they had the lowest proportion of waste that was reused, recycled or composted (37%).

Across the county, the amount of residual waste collected per person reduced in every area in 2025 compared to 2024, except in Broxbourne, where 190kg was 1.6% higher.

The largest decreases in the amount of residual waste per person were in East Herts, where the 166kg collected was 17.8% lower, and in North Herts, where the 132kg was 10.6% lower than the year before.

Elsewhere across the county, in Dacorum the amount of residual waste was 166kg, down 2.8% from the year before – and in Hertsmere it was 182kg per person, down 3.1% compared to 2024.

In St Albans, an average of 136kg of residual waste was collected per person, down 1.4% on 2024 – and in Watford the 153kg collected was 1% lower than the previous year.

In Welwyn Hatfield, 165 kg of residual waste was collected, which was just 0.7% lower than in 2024.

Overall across the county, more than half of all household waste (51.3%) was reused, recycled or composted.

That's 0.3% lower than the year before, which is said to reflect the impact of a dry summer.

But it's still a performance that's been welcomed by Cllr Williams, although he does point to the need for greater composting of food waste.

"Thanks to the efforts of Hertfordshire's residents, we are the highest recycler in the Eastern region and the fifth highest performing county-area in the country," he said.

"However, performance has flat-lined, and a recent study shows that lots of food waste is being put in refuse bins rather than food waste caddies.

"We need residents' help to be number one in the country – by home composting or using their food waste caddies for any food that can't be eaten."

In addition, the performance data also focus on the collection of dry recyclables – such as plastic, paper, cardboard and glass – as a proportion of household waste.

And according to the data, the amount of dry recyclables collected – measured as a proportion of household waste collected – did increase in six areas of the county in 2025, as well as in the county's recycling centres.

In East Herts, the proportion dry recyclables collected increased by 3.1%, to 24.4%; and in North Herts it increased by 1.2% to 25%.

Four districts or boroughs recorded increases of between 0.3% and 0.7%. They were Dacorum (0.5), Stevenage (0.5), Three Rivers (0.7) and Welwyn Hatfield (0.3) – with mixed recycling rates of 26.5%, 18.5%, 30.6% and 21.1% respectively.

The remaining four districts saw their dry mixed recycling rates decrease, with Broxbourne reducing by 1.5% to 18.8%, Hertsmere decreasing by 0.5% to 20%; St Albans decreasing by 0.5% to 26.2%; and Watford going down 0.6% to 26.3%.

The performance data was presented to the latest meeting of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, which was held on July 20