Angus Council is top of Scotland’s local authority recycling league.
The council secured its ambition of moving up from the number two slot it previously held.
And it achieved the goal by recycling almost 60% of the waste generated in the county last year.
New data from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency shows Angus hit 57.9% for its recycling performance in 2020.
It meant 30,226 of the 52,166 tonnes of household waste generated in Angus were recycled.
Neighbouring councils fare less well
And the rural authority was streets ahead of city neighbour Dundee.
It recycled only 34.7% in 2020.
Perth and Kinross managed 49.4%, while the Fife figure was 43.7%.
The Scottish average was 42%.
It’s being seen as a major success story for Angus after a 2019 redesign of its recycling centres and efforts to improve kerbside collection performance.
Angus has seven recycling centres and 23 neighbourhood recycling points across Angus.
During 2020, 21,325 tonnes of mixed recycling, food waste and garden waste was collected at the kerbside.
And another 8,901 tonnes of materials, such as cardboard, textiles and electrical items came in to the local skip sites.
‘We will not be complacent’
But communities convener Mark Salmond said the table toppers will not be resting on their laurels.
He said, “We are absolutely delighted that the hard work of our teams and our communities to ensure that recycling is a priority has paid off.
“Throughout 2020 we managed to keep our kerbside recycling services running, despite the impact of Covid-19.
“And we were able to bring our recycling centres back online with a full range of recycling quickly after the lockdown period.
“We’ve also had a fantastic 2021 with a whole range of new initiatives being funded to help in the war against waste.
“However, we will not become complacent.
“We will continue to work with residents to ensure the rate of waste recycled increases in line with government targets and our sustainable energy and climate Action Plan.”
Fly-tipping action squad
Angus won a 2020 National Recycling Award for the redesign of its recycling centres.
And in April, council funding was given to set up a hit squad to tackle fly-tipping, littering and bulky uplifts.
The council also launched a Community Clean Up and Fly-tipping Prevention Fund.
It is open to community groups and individuals to help to clean up their area.
So far, 17 applications have been funded for items such as litter pickers, trail cameras and handi-carts.
But SEPA confirmed the pandemic had a noticeable impact on recycling rates.
The Scottish average of 42% was a decrease of 2.9% from 2019.
And the recycled tonnage total dropped 66,000 tonnes to 1.02 million.
It meant both the amount of waste recycled and the waste recycling rate were the lowest since 2013.
