Castle Point Council is working hard to stop dumping its rubbish in landfill sites.

It has set aside £2,609 to go towards employing environmental consultants Ecologika to produce a report on how it can move towards recycling.

Experts at Ecologika are producing detailed plans for local authorities across Essex including Castle Point and Rochford.

Borough and district councils have got to improve their recycling records to fend of the threat of incineration.

If things are allowed to carry on as they are landfill sites will run out and an incinerator could be built on a site just off the A130 in Rayleigh, close to Castle Point's border.

Ecologika hopes to have completed the work by the end of the year. Householders are not the only ones being urged to recycle. Industry and businesses are also being told to do their bit.

Alan Longford, Castle Point Council's director of health and housing, said: "The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions has published a draft strategy for England and Wales.

"Each year approximately 100 to 130 million tonnes of waste are generated from households, commerce and industry and this total is increasing.

"If the present growth in household waste continues the amount of waste management facilities required to deal with it will be doubled by 2020.

"Equally, where waste is generated, more value must be recovered from it.

"Just under a third of the waste coming from industry and commerce is recycled or composted with a smaller proportion having energy recovered from it.

"Much more is possible."

Doug Roberts (Con, St James) said: "This is not just something the county and borough councils should be left to work on.

"We need help from the Government on this."

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