BOLTON Council has doubled its rate for the recycling of the household waste it collects over the last seven years.

New government figures show that in 2017/18, it disposed of 47.1 per cent of its domestic rubbish in an environmentally-friendly way rather than send it to landfill.

This places it 11th out of 43 North-West Councils for recycling household waste and 118 in the UK league table of 353 local authorities according an analysis of the latest Department for Environment statistics by produced by waste experts InSinkErator.

In 2010/11, Bolton Council was recycling just 24 per cent of the domestic waste it collected from borough homes.

Before the controversial introduction of grey ‘slim bins’ in 2016, the rate was just 39 per cent.

Bolton Council’s performance is worse than neighbouring Bury (51.7 per cent placing it 6th in the Northwest and 66th in the UK) and Wigan (48.5 per cent , regionally seventh and nationally 96th).

But it is better than Salford where 45.6 per cent of household waste is recycled ranking it 13th in the North-West and 136th in the UK.

Cllr Adele Warren, Bolton Council’s environment boss, said: “I would like to thank local people for their continued support - their recycling has made such a big difference.

“Less household waste is being sent to landfill and the latest figures are testament to the commitment of our residents to recycling. Please keep up the good work.

“We understand that there are some people who do need a bit of extra help, and if anyone is struggling to fit their rubbish in their grey bin, please request a waste audit and a recycling officer will visit.”

Cllr Nick Peel, Labour's environment spokesman, said: "This tremendous news. The borough's recycling trend is ever upwards.

"It shows that the changes to bins we made in 2016 have had the desired effect with people now recycling items they used to put in general rubbish.

"This is good for the environment and saves the council millions in landfill tax and disposal costs.""

Chris Vella-Bone, the ecommerce manager for InSinkErator, said: “The recycling data from DEFRA is a great opportunity to make a real change for the future of our planet."