BLAENAU Gwent County Borough Council is failing to meet Welsh Government recycling targets.

A Welsh Government document - ‘local authority municipal waste management, October to December 2016’ - containing statistics covering provisional quarterly results from the WasteDataFlow system shows the percentage of recycling, reuse or composting for each of the Welsh local authorities.

In a bid to meet its target of recycling 70 per cent of waste by 2024-25, the Welsh Government introduced statutory recycling targets for local authorities to recycle 58 per cent of collected waste.

Blaenau Gwent only recycled 54 per cent of its waste in December 2016 and is the only authority failing to meet the recycling target, according to the provisional figures.

Top of the list is Monmouthshire council, with 67 per cent of its waste provisionally recycled in December 2016, an increase of two per cent from September 2016.

According to the provisional figures, Caerphilly and Torfaen were both ahead of the government’s target, having scored 65 per cent and 63 per cent respectively.

Newport council improved on its September recycling figure of 60 per cent to 62 per cent in December 2016.

A spokesman from Blaenau Gwent council said according to its own figures, from April 2016 to March 2017 the amount being recycled is 56.7 per cent. He added that a new weekly recycling system had been introduced in October 2015.

He said: “The figures released by Welsh Government today are provisional and show an improving position for Blaenau Gwent in each quarter since December 2015.

“The latest provisional figures for the full year 2016-17 show an even better picture for Blaenau Gwent with recycling at 56.7 per cent, narrowly missing the Welsh Government statutory target of 58 per cent.

“This percentage includes the recycling for green waste, food waste, and general recycling. These are just indications and the Welsh Government is yet to verify these figures.”

The final figures are due in October 2017.