Council lead member claims turnaround of recycling rates
JAMES PRENTICE & HUGH SULLIVAN
Defra (the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) has released last year’s recycling performance data. It shows that Hastings has been recycling less of its household waste.
In fact, it demonstrates that the rate of recycling household waste was at its lowest since 2015. In 2025 the Hastings borough recycled 29.5% of its household waste, down from 32.2% just two years before. The national average was 41.5%.
In this same period, the amount of waste recycled per person also dropped significantly. At the end of 2023, 353kg of waste per person was recycled, yet by the end of last year this had reduced by 20kg per person.
This reduction in recycling has seen Hastings drop down the recycling league tables and fall further behind the national average. In 2022, out of the 333 local authorities, Hastings ranked 47th from the bottom; in 2025 it fell to 37th, placing the borough just above the bottom 10th for recycling in Britain, and considerably lower than similar coastal communities (see adjacent table).
However, Cllr Becca Horn, lead councillor for community safety and environment services at Hastings Borough Council, insists not only that reducing waste and improving re-use and recycling rates are “a top priority”, but that they are moving back in the right direction. “It’s important to note that published annual rates reflect the last full reporting year, so there’s a bit of a lag. Whilst those figures for Hastings remain below the national average, we are encouraged by the progress we are now starting to see in our internal data.”
She claims that in the first quarter of 2026/27, Hastings’ recycling rate reached 39.5%, up from 31.4% during the same period last year.
“The quality of our recycling is also improving, with our latest operational data showing less contamination,” she says.
Cllr Horn suggests that there is increased awareness as a result of the weekly food waste collections and from residents recycling more materials, including toothpaste tubes and Tetra Pak cartons.
“Since weekly food waste collections began in April 2026, residents have recycled more than 1,000 tonnes of food waste. Hastings has also seen 974 tonnes less household waste compared with the same period from April to August last year.
“We are also pleased that residents are making use of other opportunities to reduce waste. Through our partnership with Anglo Doorstep Collections, residents have arranged 150 reuse and recycling collections, diverting more than five tonnes of material for reuse or recycling.
“It’s early days, but we are keen to ensure this positive trend continues.”
These updated figures suggest that the apparent increase in recycling is mainly being driven by improving food waste collections. So the national government’s approach to reduce waste by delivering food waste bins to all households in boroughs where recycling is very low may be working.
They also seem to indicate that the Anglo Doorstep Collections deliver limited returns in comparison to the government’s food waste bin strategy, raising questions of the former’s cost-effectiveness. Those wishing to help reduce waste should make good use of those small orange-lid bins that were delivered to us earlier this year.
Hastings will hold its first Waste Action Community Assembly – a community conversation about all things waste – on Saturday 28 November at East Sussex College. Local group who would like to be involved should email [email protected]
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