Residents across Tendring have smashed their own record for the amount of waste recycled in a calendar month.

Latest performance figures reveal that people living in the district hit the 30 per cent mark for the very first time in November 2007.

The 30.56 per cent easily beat the previous best of last August where 28.73 per cent of waste was recycled.

The success pushes Tendring's overall figure for 2007/08 up to an impressive 26.45 per cent - more than two per cent above the target of 24 per cent which has been set by the Government.

Environmental bosses at Tendring District Council (TDC) are delighted with the results but will not be resting on their laurels.

"This really is a fantastic achievement and just shows what can be done," said Michael Talbot, Portfolio Holder for the Environment at TDC.

"To hit more than 30 per cent with only dry recyclables - which excludes green waste which we do not collect - is very impressive indeed and it just shows that residents in this district really do care about the environment."

TDC brought in a weekly recycling collection service a year ago to run alongside the Council's weekly household waste collection service.

"Previously the recycling collection had been carried out fortnightly," added Cllr Talbot. "The change - which is what residents had been asking for - has proved popular and people have certainly responded in a positive way.

He said that he hoped that the upward trend would continue and thanked people across the district for playing their part.

The kerbside tonnage for recyclable waste in November was 970.9 tonnes while paper and glass banks brought in a further 275.1 tonnes, making 1,246 tonnes in all.

Find out more on our recycling pages.