WALES might well be celebrating a record year for recycling, but Powys is one of four county councils that failed to meet targets set by the Welsh Government.

The country as a whole beat the latest target by achieving a recycling rate of 65.14 per cent, and this exceeded the target of 64 per cent the Welsh Government had set in law for the year 2019/20, according to My Recycling Wales.

Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion (72 per cent) were rated as the best at recycling in Wales, with Wrexham and the vale of Glamorgan (70) not far behind, with all four already beaten the next target of 70 per cent, which the Welsh Government plans to put into law by 2025.

Powys (63 per cent) was among the four worst, alongside Caerphilly (63), Neath Port Talbot (62) and Cardiff (58).

However, Powys were by no means way off base and was among the best-performing counties in terms of money saved by recycling – a total of £4 million beating the likes of Blaenau Gwent, Ceredigion, Denbighshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire and Torfaen.

Powys residents recycled 35,000 tonnes of waste and avoided 18,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

And, Powys would have actually achieved the Welsh Government's 64 per cent target - had it not been for a reporting error. According to a Waste Data Flow report, Powys County Council identified an error in its reported recycling tonnages for 2019/20. The council identified additional waste sent for recycling during the year than was initially reported. It is estimated that including these tonnages would have increased the council's recycling rate by one per cent to 64 per cent - but the error was identified after the reporting deadline. Therefore, the council will now include the additional tonnages in 2020/21.

Welsh Liberal Democrats leader Jane Dodds expressed her disappointment, tweeting on Saturday: “Good news overall but disappointed to see Powys lagging behind the rest of Wales.

“We all must do our bit and recycle as much as we can to reduce waste and help protect our planet.”

Since the Welsh Government set statutory recycling targets for local authorities, household recycling performances have dramatically increased, from just 5.2 per cent in 1998/99 to globally leading figures of 60.7 per cent in 2018/19. The target had been set at 58 per cent since 2015/16.

The Welsh Government said they had invested £1 billion in household recycling since the start of devolution. The recycling targets are part of what the Welsh Government calls its ‘Towards Zero Waste’ strategy.

The latest figures show 1.51 million tonnes of material was generated within local authorities in Wales in 2019/20, which is a decrease of almost two per cent. Nearly a million tonnes of that material was recycled, re-used or composted.

Environment Minister Lesley Griffiths said: “For Wales as a whole to exceed the target in the first year is testament to the considerable effort everyone has put in.

“We could not have achieved a record year for recycling in Wales without the hard work of our local authorities and households across Wales and I’d like to particularly congratulate those authorities who have exceeded the next target five years early.

“Wales is already a recycling nation and we are rightly proud of our achievements. These figures not only show that we are on track in meeting our goal of zero waste by 2050, but also show the progress being made towards a circular, low carbon economy.”