Households in Hertfordshire throw away less waste and recycle more than the national average, county councillors were told.

The latest meeting of the council's cabinet was told that in 2023-24 Herts households threw away an average of 444.5kg of residual, or non-recyclable, waste – 57.4 kg less than the national average of 501.9kg.

According to a report, this "continued the decline which was experienced following the increase which occurred during Covid-19 and its associated 'lockdowns'".

The data also shows that 52% of household waste in Hertfordshire was recycled or composted in 2023-24 compared with 51.2% the year before.

This is almost 10 percentage points higher than the 42.3% for England and over six points higher than the rate recorded in the Eastern region.

Over the same period, 12% of 'local authority collected' waste in Hertfordshire was sent to landfill – which was lower than the 19.4% across the Eastern region but higher than the 5.5% nationally.

"Performance in Hertfordshire, as well as regionally and nationally, directly reflects the availability of contracted energy recovery facilities (ERFs)," says the report.

"There was an increase in the period of municipal waste sent to landfill from 2022-23 (10.7per cent). During 2023-24 the use of Greatmoor ERF

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[in Buckinghamshire] was not available.

"A range of new residual waste contracts are in place for Hertfordshire from April 2024. These mean that no waste is anticipated to be sent directly to landfill.

"A residual amount of waste (e.g. waste rejected from recycling processes), however, is likely to continue to be sent indirectly to landfill."