Brentwood Council is encouraging residents to keep recycling after an increase towards the end of last year.

The amount of waste recycled in Brentwood went up from 45 per cent in 2010/2011 to 48 per cent in 2011/2012, and rose again to 53 per cent between April and November last year.

The council said that the amount that can’t be recycled and is sent to landfill is also reducing, from an average of 1,283 tonnes per month in 2011/2012 to an average of 1,155 tonnes now.

The council added that its work to educate people about recycling food waste has helped reduce the amount of food waste it needs to collect from 102 tonnes in December 2011, to 95 tonnes last month.

Cllr Tony Sleep, chair of Brentwood Council’s environment panel, said: “It’s great that we are recycling more and more but I need your help to further increase the amount of food waste that we recycle.

“If non-food waste is put in with the food waste, this can become impossible to recycle and can even up as landfill. Please do not put any plastic bags in the food waste recycling containers.”