Somerset residents have been thanked after new figures revealed 9 in 10 households are recycling.

The data was gathered from a March survey which looked at 3000 homes in the county. It found that 91 per cent were actively recycling and sorting items into their bins and blue bag. This represents an 85 per cent increase against the last survey, which was carried out five years ago.

The improvement follows a series of campaigns which aimed to raise awareness about food waste recycling.

Councillor Sarah Dyke, Lead Member for Environment and Climate Change, said: “The vast majority of people in Somerset are recycling and that’s something we can all be really proud of this Somerset Day. The jump in food waste recycling is particularly pleasing.

“We’ve done our best to help people recycle, but at the end of the day it comes down to more people taking the time to do the right thing.”

Somerset Council said it was committed to a "greener and more sustainable county" and welcomed the findings of its latest survey.