MORE waste in Scotland was recycled than sent to landfill last year, new figures show.

Statistics from School Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) revealed that during 2017, 45.6% of household waste in Scotland was recycled, a rise of 0.6% from the previous year.

At the same time, the amount of waste sent to landfill went down by 2.2%, decreasing for the sixth consecutive year.

More than half of Scotland’s local authorities have improved their recycling rates year on year.

Of the 19 councils showing improvement, West Lothian had the largest increase in recycling, up from 12.8% to 61.3% of waste recycled.

Figures show Shetland Islands Council had the lowest rate of recycling at 8%, while East Renfrewshire had the highest at 67.1%

Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: “It’s great to see recycling exceed landfill for the first time ever – particularly as the stats are released during Recycling Week – but I think we still need to see more progress, particularly in our bigger cities. We may consider further measures if the pace of improvement does not increase.”

She added the Scottish Government has more plans to improve the figures. “We’ve also introduced a Household Recycling Charter for local authorities to sign up to, which is making the approach to recycling less confusing for households, and creating a more consistent and efficient system for authorities.”