RECYCLING rates have improved across four areas of Gwent, with Newport now ranking as the best performing city in Wales.

Official figures for 2019/20 show Newport had the eighth highest local authority rate across Wales, a rise from equal worst in the table in the previous year.

The city’s recycling rate increased to 66.4 per cent, from 58.9 per cent the previous year.

The council has previously credited the roll-out of smaller bins for improving the recycling rate.

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Monmouthshire council – which has introduced resident permits and day closures across its four tips – was the second best in Gwent, recycling 65.6 per cent of waste.

Blaenau Gwent council also saw a significant improvement, with the 11th best rate in Wales at 65.3 per cent.

The authority previously had one of the worst rates in Wales and was fined £77,800 for failing to hit targets in 2016/17.

But a strict black bag sorting policy has been introduced at the New Vale tip, along with side waste enforcement and campaigns encouraging residents to recycle.

Caerphilly was one of four local authorities in Wales not to meet the new national target of 64 per cent.

Its rate dropped from the sixth best in Wales, at 65.08 per cent, to the third worst at 62.5 per cent.

Torfaen council increased its recycling rate from 60.53 per cent to 64.40 per cent to meet the target.

Across Wales, the recycling rate reached a record high, with the country as a whole exceeding the latest target and achieving 65.14.

It is the first year of the new 64 per cent target, having previously been at 58 per cent since 2015/16.

The figures show 1.51 million tonnes of material was generated within local authorities in Wales last year, a decrease of almost two per cent on 2018-19.

Nearly a million tonnes (984,935 tonnes) of which was recycled, re-used or composted.

Three local authorities in Wales achieved a recycling rate which exceeds the next target of 70 per cent by 2025.

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.”