Ashford Borough Council only recycled 12% of its household waste in 2012/13, making it the worst local authority in England for recycling, according to new statistics.

The statistics on waste management, published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), revealed that Ashford only recycled 12% of its household waste and has no green recycling. In contrast, Rochford District Council had the highest recycling rate at 67%.

South Oxfordshire District Council was placed second in the league table, with Vale of White Horse District Council coming in as third best.

The figures also show that the rate of household waste recycling was 43.2% in England in 2012/13, with 73 out of 352 local authorities recycling more than 50%. Household waste has also fallen 12% since 2006/07, down to 22.6 million tonnes.

The amount of local authority managed waste going for incineration with energy recovery has also doubled in the last ten years to 5.5 tonnes.

Biffa, who provide recycling and refuse services to four of the top ten local authorities, said there had been an overall decline in recycling reuse and composting rates for 2012-13. Municipal development director, Pete Dickson, said this could be due to changes in consumer behaviour such as buying less packaged goods and buying more online.

He said: ‘In the case of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse, we know their recycling rates have also fallen because the Environment Agency has ruled that road sweepings cannot be classified as recycling.’

He said it is ‘almost inevitable’ that recycling rates plateau once a council reaches the mid-to-high 60% recycling level.

‘We then have to be creative about finding ways that can add new materials to the recycling list, or give residents other recycling options. As a result, several of our councils have added kerbside collections of small waste electrical equipment, batteries and textiles to their usual service,’ Mr Dickson said.