Recycling centres rejected more than 10,000 tonnes of waste from Oxfordshire households.

New figures released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs show that an estimated 10,110 tonnes of household waste was rejected by recycling centres after being placed in the wrong bin in the year to April 2022.

The Local Government Association has criticised manufacturers for holding back households and councils when they have worked hard to increase the amount of waste recycled.

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The figure of 10,110 is down from 10,120 tonnes the year before but up from 3,024 tonnes in 2014-15 which is when local records of rejects first began.

A Local Government spokesman acknowledged that households have made a “real shift” to make sure they are recycling as much as possible.

He said: “However, the manufacturers of plastic packaging products are still continuing to create and sell packaging that cannot be recycled and will be put in the recycling bin by people in good faith.

"The burden then falls on councils to not only collect it and dispose of it, but to pay the extra cost of disposing of it."

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The spokesman said councils were trying to achieve net zero with “one hand tied behind their back” as manufacturers were continuing to produce plastic which cannot be disposed of sustainably.

It is likely the national increase in rejected material reported across England is linked to China’s ban on all sold waste imports.

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The percentage of household waste recycled has risen slightly from 43.8 per cent ot 44.1 per cent in 2021-2022.

In Oxfordshire, 58.2 per cent of all rubbish was recycled and this equates to 175,361 tonnes of household waste.

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesman said: “There was an increase in rejected material reported by local authorities in the wake of the pandemic but we have since set a suite of targets to reduce different types of waste, including plastic, glass, metal, paper and food by 2028 through our landmark Environmental Improvement Plan."

The plan aims to ban the supply of single use plastics later this year, although Oxford City Council has already banned street traders from selling single use plastics as part of its updated street trading policy.