The amount of household waste recycled in Brighton and Hove has only gone up by two per cent in the past five years.

Just 12 per cent of rubbish produced in the city last year was recycled or composted, compared to a Government target of 17 per cent.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) figures published today follow news that a landfill site is being planned for an area close to woodland on the edge of South Chailey, near Lewes, to take items like batteries, electrical cables, fluorescent light tubes and contaminated soil.

The proposal also contains plans for a materials recycling facility to process metals, cardboard, plastic, cans and glass.

Defra named the best performing authority in England as Daventry District Council, which recycled 44.4 per cent of its household waste.

The minor increase on the ten per cent figure for Brighton and Hove in 1998/99 means the city is likely to struggle to meet the Government target of 25 per cent in 2005/06.

East Sussex County Council has more than doubled the amount of waste it recycles during the same period, from nine per cent to 18 per cent from 1998/99 to 2002/03.

West Sussex County Council has also exceeded the national target, up from 12 per cent to 21 per cent.

Its recycling initiatives include cash incentives for parents using real nappies instead of disposable and free food waste digesters for people's gardens.

The national rise of two per cent - from 12.5 per cent in 2001/02 to 14.5 per cent last year - equalled, in 12 months, what Brighton and Hove City Council has managed in five.

Environment minister Elliot Morley said: "Most councils are working hard to improve recycling rates, providing kerbside boxes and expanding the range of waste materials collected.

"But a significant minority are still not doing enough - in some places, the national minimum target of ten per cent has not been reached.

"But those who do not show a commitment to improve their recycling risk intervention by the Government to make it happen."

The worst authorities were the Corporation of London, with 1.1 per cent, Liverpool City Council and Sunderland City Council with 1.8 per cent and Manchester City Council with 2.5 per cent.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: "We have made progress but the real take-off hasn't yet started. By this time next year, nearly 90 per cent of homes will have recycled material collected by Cityclean. Then, recycling percentages will rocket and we're confident of hitting targets.

"Where we have collections, residents are recycling about 36 per cent of their waste. It's theoretically possible to recycle 60 per cent."

A West Sussex spokesman said: "Recycling has been given a very high priority by the council during the last four years with measures such as making our civic amenity sites easier to use.

"We also offered very cost-effective incentives to our contractors at the sites to ensure the public use the right bins for the various items they dispose of, which is a very important part of the recycling process."

There were calls for the Government to offer councils more cash support, with criticism of Chancellor Gordon Brown's decision to allocate just 0.6 per cent extra.

Georgina Bloomfield, from Friends of the Earth, said: "The Government is running out of time to reach their own unambitious recycling targets. Local authorities desperately need more funding.

"And the Government must make it clear that local authorities who consistently fail to improve their recycling rates will be penalised." For the first time in recent years, there was a fall in the amount of household waste sent to landfill.

However, Jim Harker, vice-chairman of the Local Government Association's environment board, said: "Councils need more funding to divert waste away from landfill to meet Government targets.

"The inevitable result will be either increases in council tax, cuts in other services or failure to meet national and EU targets."

Thursday August 12, 2004