PEOPLE in Tenbury and the surrounding area have been making up for lost time when it comes to recycling.

The amount of waste being recycled from homes in Worcestershire has rocketed by 12 per cent during lockdown, new figures show.

In total, 11,200 tonnes of recycling waste have been collected from homes during April and May, which is 1,190 tonnes more compared with the same period in 2019 and the equivalent of collecting an additional 135,000 green bins of recycling.

This percentage increase in recycling outweighs the increase in black bin waste which stands at only a four per cent increase from the same time last year.

District, City and Borough councils have been working hard to ensure that householders bins across the county have been collected regularly even with the challenges due to COVID-19.

“We are pleased with the increase in recycling that we’ve seen across the county,” said Councillor Tony Miller, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for the Environment.

“It shows that despite the majority of people staying at home and working from home in the past few months, they have been making a concerted effort to recycle more of their waste rather than throwing it in their black bin.

“I’d like to thank our District, City and Borough council colleagues for all their efforts to maintain as a regular bin collection as is possible during lockdown.”

Throughout lockdown, Worcestershire County Council has been encouraging people to reuse and recycle as much as possible.

This also includes putting food and garden waste into compost bins rather than throwing it into their black/grey bins ready for collection or using the paid for garden waste service offered by local councils.

Household Recycling Centres which were temporarily closed during the lockdown are also now open with social distancing measures in place to keep staff and visitors safe.