Lewisham’s recycling rate has increased slightly, but the borough is still well below the London rate.

The rise of three per cent takes Lewisham’s figure to 20.2 per cent for 2017/2018, which is nearly 13 per cent lower than the London rate.

This comes after Mayor of London Sadiq Khan pledged to increase London’s recycling rates from 33 per cent to 42 per cent with no biodegradable or recyclable waste sent to landfill by 2030.

To meet this pledge, Lewisham would need to increase its recycling rate by more than a fifth over the next 12 years.

Lewisham was one of three boroughs nationally with the lowest recycling rates in 2016, when only 16.6 per cent of household waste was recycled.

Before the three per cent increase in the past year, recycling rates have been stagnant since 2010/11.

But a Lewisham Council spokesperson said it fully expects improvements seen in the last year to continue, with recycling rates up to almost 30 per cent between April and October this year.

“Since the introduction of a weekly food waste collection in October 2017 we’ve seen a significant increase in our recycling rates,” they said.

“As well as a three per cent rise in the last year, between April and October 2018 our recycling rate was almost 30 per cent.

“There is still much to do, and it’s encouraging to see that the changes introduced are having a positive impact on improving our rates and we fully expect this to continue,” they added.

The lion’s share of waste that is not recycled is sent to the incinerator, with 77.5 per cent of household waste sent to Selchp, an energy-from-waste plant in New Cross in 2017/18.

This provides electricity for up to 48,000 homes.

A report discussed in the House of Lords in July revealed harmful particles released by incinerators in England last year were equivalent to the emissions of more than a quarter of a million 40-tonne lorries travelling 75,000 miles per year.

Less than one per cent of household rubbish was sent to landfill in 2017/18.

The Mayor of London does not currently set borough-specific recycling targets.