Slough council is one of the worst in the south east for recycling, according to new research released this week.

The council has been ranked 342nd out of 353 local authorities for its percentage of household waste sent for recycling.

In the south east it comes second worst, with 23.9 per cent of household waste sent for recycling in 2017/18 – marginally behind Gosport Borough Council with 23 per cent.

In contrast, the Royal Borough came in at 44.8 per cent – 146th in the list.

Research by InSinkErator measured the recycling rate of councils in England based on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs statistics from December.

According to the figures, 27 out of the 66 councils in the south east are exceeding the current UK target of 50 per cent for recycling rates, but some of those are just scraping through, and 39 councils in the south east are reportedly not hitting the target.

Slough Borough Council (SBC) said on average, seven out of 30 lorry loads of recycling is being taken to landfill each week and just in the first three months of the year, 380 tonnes of recycling was taken to Lakeside Energy for Waste plant and burned along with general waste.

This is costing the council an extra £200 a day in additional fees, with SBC saying the recycling is being rejected because it is "contaminated" with items that cannot be recycled, including waste food, greasy pizza boxes and dirty nappies.

Cllr Rob Anderson, cabinet member for transport and environmental services, said: “Slough Borough Council has an aim to send zero waste to landfill and we are pleased that we have sent virtually nothing to landfill in recent years by converting most of our waste into energy.

“We are aware that recycling rates are not as good as they could be in Slough and we want them to improve significantly. We have a particular problem with recycling being contaminated by objects that cannot be recycled.

“In the summer we have a programme planned to encourage the people of Slough to recycle more or the right things.

“We will be asking all households and people who use the public bins for just four items to be recycled, which are glass, cans, plastic bottles and clean cardboard, newspaper and magazines in their recycling.”