ENVIRONMENTALLY-conscious people in Ryedale are credited with a household waste recycling centre being declared the best performing site in North Yorkshire.

Yorwaste operates the Thornton-le-Dale household waste recycling centre on behalf of North Yorkshire County Council.

The site is currently recycling 86 per cent of all the materials that are delivered by members of the public, well above the 62 per cent target set by the county council.

This means Thornton-le-Dale is ranked number one for recycling performance of all 20 household waste recycling centres across North Yorkshire, and also makes it one of the best performing sites in the country.

Debbie Swindells, Thornton-le-Dale site manager, puts the excellent performance down to improvements that have been made to the site, along with the co-operation of the public.

“Over the last few years the site has been totally revamped to make it more user-friendly and put the entire focus on recycling, including adding more skips and better signs,” she said.

“We also spend a lot of time talking to members of the public who come to the site and educating them about what can be recycled. In many cases they don’t realise some of the material they bring in, and are about to put in a skip bound for landfill, can be recycled.

“Their response has been fantastic and reflects the increase in the recycling figures over the last few years.”

County Coun Chris Metcalfe, executive member for waste management, said: “All of the council’s household waste recycling centres are focused on recycling and composting as much as possible, achieving an average of 67 per cent across all 20 sites.

“Through the efforts of local residents, recycling and composting rates at Thornton-le-Dale household waste recycling centre are the best across the network.

“They are making a valuable contribution in diverting waste away from landfill.”