RECYCLING rates in Teignbridge are on the up – despite figures nationally plummeting.

The district’s figures jumped from 53.7 per cent in 2014/15 to 54.3 per cent the following year and for the first two quarters of 2016/17 it stands at 56.1 per cent.

The news has been welcomed by Teignbridge Council at a time when national statistics have fallen from 44.9 per cent to 44.3 per cent.

The council has invested millions of pounds in expanding Newton Abbot’s recycling centre, buying a new fleet of vehicles and has changed the garden waste services.

Members at Monday’s overview and scrutiny meeting were told that the district authority was in the top 12 per cent in the national table and third in the south west.