Government figures just published show that 106 out of 393 local authorities (27 per cent) have not improved their recycling performance in the last year.

Friends of the Earth's analysis of the figures reveals that just 20 local authorities have increased their recycling rates by more than five per cent during the last year. The government's national target is to recycle 25 per cent by 2005, but England's household recycling rate increased by just 1 per cent during the last year, from 11.2 per cent to 12.4 per cent.

• Recycling varies widely across the regions, with a north-south divide. The south east recycles the most at 4kg per household per week, or 18 per cent. The north east recycles the least at just 1kg per household per week, or 5 per cent. London is another poor recycler, hitting just 9.3 per cent in 2001-2.
• Incineration is still hampering recycling. Metropolitan authorities incinerate 15 per cent of their waste and recycle just 8 per cent on average. Non-metropolitan authorities, which incinerate 4 per cent, recycle 17 per cent on average.
• The figures show how successful community campaigns against incinerators have been. The amount of waste incinerated has grown by 11 per cent a year on average since3 1996-7, but the increase since 1998 is less than half that in the previous two years.

The green campaign group, Friends of the Earth, is calling on the Government to spend at least £100 million more on recycling arguing this is what it will cost every household to be provided with a good quality doorstep recycling collection.

In 2001-2 just over half (58 per cent) of households had a doorstep recycling service and only 24 per cent collected 4 or more materials. The majority of schemes pick up recyclable waste just once a fortnight, rather than once a week.

Friends of the Earth Waste Campaigner Anna Watson said: "A quarter of local areas are doing no more recycling than they were last year.”

“The Government's recycling hopes are disappearing over the horizon. England is still falling behind the rest of Europe in recycling. We will never raise our game unless more local authorities start collecting recycling from the doorstep.”

“Every household needs a reliable, weekly collection of at least 4 materials. Only then will recycling become as second-nature as throwing out the rubbish."

But will householders be happy with sorting rubbish into four separate bins and where will we store them? What about flats and maisonettes and houses with do direct access from front to back?

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Top ten recyclers

• Daventry District Council 44 %
• Lichfield District Council 33 %
• Eastleigh Borough Council 29 %
• Forest Heath District Council 29 %
• St Edmundsbury Borough Council 29 %
• Dorset County Council 27 %
• Chiltern District Council 27 %
• Melton Borough Council 26 %
• Bath and North East Somerset Council 25 %
• New Forest District Council 24 %

Bottom ten recyclers

• London Borough of Tower Hamlets 3 %
• Manchester City Council 3 %
• Corby Borough Council 3 %
• Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council 2 %
• Bolsover District Council 2 %
• North Cornwall District Council 2 %
• Cannock Chase Council 2 %
• Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council 2 %
• Sunderland City Council 1 %
• London Borough of Hackney 1 %