RECORD recycling rates have been achieved in South Lakeland as kerbside collections are rolled out.

New figures released by South Lakeland District Council show that in November the council collected more than 50 tonnes of plastic from the kerbside for the first time in a month – the equivalent of more than two million plastic bottles.

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And in December, SLDC collected 569 tonnes of kerbside recyclables, beating the previous record of 520 tonnes set last year.

Across South Lakeland, 47 per cent of waste is now recycled, compared to 43 per cent a year ago.

Some of the final areas in the district have this week started to receive new blue recycling bags ready for the start of plastic and cardboard collections.

So far around 85 per cent of the district has been moved on to plastic and card collections by SLDC.

Now residents living in the Grange-over-Sands area have begun receiving a re-useable recycling bag delivered for storing plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays as well as cans.

On Monday households in Lindale had their blue bags delivered and next week they will be delivered in Grange and Kents Bank.

Teams from both the Ulverston and Kendal depots will assist with the bag deliveries, which will see nearly 3,000 properties added to the scheme in one of the largest phases in the plastic and card roll-out, both in terms of geography and numbers of properties.

Grange is also the final main town in the district to get the expanded kerbside service, as part of a massive project to move every area onto the new collections by the end of March.

“This is one of the largest areas that we make waste and recycling collections,” said a council spokesman. “Grange is serviced from both our Kendal and Ulverston depots, which makes it quite a complex operation.

“It is also an area with many commercial holiday lets and houses in multiple occupation, so we will be taking extra care to ensure we try to deliver bags to all the properties entitled to the new kerbside collections, but it will take several days to complete.

Plastic and card kerbside collections have already been rolled-out in areas including Kendal, Ulverston, Kirkby Lonsdale, Milnthorpe, Windermere and Bowness.

From the end of January crews will be concentrating on delivering bags to the remaining smaller hamlets and villages across the district, estimated to be a further 2,000 properties.