Councils are winning the battle on recycling, according to local government leaders. Figures from the LGA show less than 2% of household items sent for recycling and collected by local councils are rejected. Out of almost 13 million tonnes of items sent for recycling, just 240,403 were rejected. The war of the bins has become a key battleground, and local authorities are under pressure to reduce the amount of waste that is filling up the UK's dwindling number of landfill sites. Chairman of the Local Government Association Environment Board, Cllr Paul Bettison, said: ‘Britain is the dustbin of Europe with more rubbish being thrown into landfill than any other country on the continent. ‘For decades, people have been used to being able to throw their rubbish away without worrying about the consequences. Those days are now over.' The figures came on the same day as the Prince of Wales called for stronger leadership from the public, private sectors and non-governmental organisations to tackle climate change. He said: ‘We are simply not reacting quickly enough. We cannot be anything less than courageous and revolutionary.'
