ENVIRONMENTALLY friendly residents have given council chiefs cause for celebration after recycling rates hit record levels.

Kerbside recycling collections were introduced in Ryedale in March 2003 and, since then, recycling rates in the district have soared.

In the past year, residents have recycled about 5,500 tonnes of their rubbish from a total of 21,800 tonnes of waste, giving Ryedale a 25 per cent recycling rate for household waste.

Their efforts mean 500 lorry loads of rubbish have been diverted from the landfill site at Thornton-le-Dale for recycling.

Before the system was introduced, the only way residents could recycle was by using recycling banks in town centre car parks or in some villages.

That only achieved a recycling rate of about 11 per cent, with less than 2,000 tonnes per year of recyclable waste being collected for reprocessing.

Councillor Elizabeth Shields, chairman of the Ryedale District Council's community services and licensing committee, said: "This is good news for the environment and also good news for taxpayers.

"Although recycling costs money, it is going to be far less costly for councils to recycle waste than have to pay the Government landfill taxes and heavy fines for overusing the landfill.

"All residents are to be congratulated for their excellent efforts in sorting materials, as it results in a cost-effective way of dealing with household waste and improves local environmental quality."

In the past year, 1,132 tonnes of glass, 159 tonnes of cans, 1,614 tonnes of paper, 2,467 tonnes of garden waste, 28 tonnes of plastic bottles, 60 tonnes of textiles and five tonnes of aluminium foil have been collected.

The glass, cans, paper, aluminium-foil and plastic bottles are delivered back to manufacturers for reprocessing, and garden waste goes to local farmers, who compost the material and use it back on their land. Textiles are re-used or recycled by the Salvation Army.

By next year, the council is hoping that residents will push the recycling rate up to 30 per cent.

More information is available from the district council's recycling helpline on (01653) 694023 or by visiting www.recyclenow.co