WORCESTERSHIRE County Council has hit out at suggestions that thousands of tonnes of materials collected for recycling are dumped into landfill.

The authority has also praised residents and district council partners, including Wyre Forest, for their efforts that have led to Government targets being exceeded.

All of the six districts have recorded recycling levels over and above those set by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Conservative county councillor, Derek Prodger, the council's cabinet member for environment, has spoken to various media within the past two weeks about Audit Commission figures that suggest more than 14,000 tonnes of material collected for recycling was sent to landfill.

Mr Prodger said that while those 14,000 tonnes could not be counted as recycling following changes to Defra's guidance, it included 13,000 tonnes of timber which could no longer be recorded as recycled, even though it had been reused elsewhere.

The county council said that had not been as clearly reported as hoped, however, and the "great work" on recycling in Worcestershire could be lost.

Mr Prodger said: "I feel more than a little disappointed that some reporters have seemingly ignored the fact that a large percentage of those 14,000 tonnes has been re-used but the recorded figures cannot reflect this.

"All our district councils are over-performing when it comes to current Government recycling targets, so to suggest that most of it is useless is very misleading.

"The fact is that less than four per cent of recycled materials are what we'd call contaminated and, therefore, unsuitable for us to use again.

"But our districts are working hard to help residents understand what can and can't be put out for recycling and we'll continue to reduce this amount.

"What shouldn't be ignored is the fact that residents and the district councils are doing some fantastic work when it comes to reducing the amount that's sent to landfill and misleading stories like this can dishearten those who are doing so well."