GWENT councils are either meeting or performing beyond recycling targets set by the Welsh Government according to the latest figures.

The provisional figures released by the Welsh Government for the year ending March 2014 show that Monmouthshire County Council is topping the local authority table with the highest recycling rate in Wales, along with Denbighshire.

Monmouthshire's recycling, re-use and composting rate hit 63 per cent according to the Waste Data Flow system, monitored by Natural Resources Wales, up two per cent from the previous year.

Elsewhere in Gwent, Caerphilly council recycled 58 per cent of waste, Blaenau Gwent reached 55 per cent and Torfaen and Newport, 52 per cent.

The Welsh Government’s current waste strategy Towards Zero Waste has set a target of 70 per cent recycling and composting of municipal waste by 2025.

A statutory target of 52 per cent was set for 2012/13 which all Gwent local authorities are now meeting.

Quarterly figures from January to March 2014 show that Monmouthshire's recycling, re-use and composting rate for the first three months of the year was 61 per cent, compared to 52 per cent during the same months last year.

All Gwent councils saw an improvement with Caerphilly county and Newport hitting 54 per cent, compared to 52 and 50 per cent respectively last year, Blaenau Gwent with 52 per cent, compared to 50 per cent last year and Torfaen improving from 47 per cent to 51 per cent.

The rates apply to the amount of municipal waste recycled, reused or composted. Municipal waste includes household and non- household waste that is collected and disposed of by local authorities excluding rubble, incinerator residues, matter from beach cleansing, plasterboard and abandoned vehicles.

AM Alun Davies praised Blaenau Gwent council for recycling 55 percent of its waste, above the Welsh average of 52.5 percent.

He said: "Wales has been leading the way when it comes to recycling and I’m delighted that our local authority is performing so well.

“The Welsh Government set ambitious targets for councils in a bid to ensure they all achieve the EU target of recycling 50 percent of its waste by 2020. Blaenau Gwent is already exceeding this, six years ahead of schedule.

“Recycling not only created jobs, it helps protect our natural resources that are so precious, a sentiment that is reflected in our local authority’s commitment to exceeding its targets.”