THE number of residents and businesses buying into south Bucks' recycling initiatives has had a huge impact on the area's national standing.
Wycombe District Council is now ranked 66 out of 393 local authorities in England, jumping up 40 places since last year, according to statistics published by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The district is now recycling more than 40 per cent of all its rubbish according to the league tables published for 2006/2007.
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Sally Gordon, waste and recycling services manager for Wycombe District Council, said: "I think it's really thanks to the participation of our householders.
"Recycling is much higher on the public agenda.
"Most people are very keen to be doing their bit for the environment. At the end of the day it's not about Wycombe District Council's rating in any poll, but about having a positive impact on the environment."
Chiltern District also appears in the top half of the table at number 24, recycling more than 45 per cent of its waste and Buckinghamshire County Council is at number 57 with 40 per cent of all waste recycled.
John Warder, leader of Chiltern District Council, said that although the result was not as high as in previous years, the council is reviewing plans on waste options.
He said: "We are quite high on the list but we would prefer to be top. In dry recycling we are the top district in the country. We have got green recycling collections for 16,000 out of the 36,000 houses."
However, South Bucks District Council did not fare as well with an appearance at number 140.
South Bucks' portfolio holder for the environment, Bill Lidgate, said the problem was a result of the High Heavens landfill site being full to saturation and no alternative available yet to take on organic waste.
He said: "If its based on a percentage, its because we are only doing alternate week collections for 5,400 out of 26,000 homes. We have shown householders on this trial area are recycling a large amount of waste and diverting a huge amount from landfill."
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