A TEESSIDE council has been named as having one of the worse recycling records in Britain.

But Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council claims the statistics are out of date and have dramatically improved.

Friends of the Earth has said the council only recycles two per cent of waste, compared with a national average of 12 per cent and a Government target of 18 per cent.

However, the council hit back saying that the Friends of the Earth figures are three years out of date and the authority now recycles up to eight per cent of all waste.

Mike Hardman, the council's assistant director for environmental services, said: "This is grossly unfair. We are doing a lot of good work to improve our recycling figures and there's a lot more in the pipeline."

Initiatives include the introduction of kerbside collections of wastepaper - the blue bag scheme - across the borough. This follows a successful pilot scheme in Saltburn, Redcar and Guisborough.

Mr Hardman said: "We are very surprised at the Friends of the Earth claim that we have not supplied our latest recycling figures.

"We would have been happy to co-operate with this type of survey. We do not deny we have come from a position of weakness - however, we are gaining strength."

A spokesman for Friends of the Earth said its figures were taken from a Government website and, if the new council statistics were correct, the authority still lagged behind the national average.

The pressure group is urging the Government to back a Private Member's Bill to force every local authority to provide a doorstep recycling scheme. The Bill goes before MPs on Wednesday.