Norfolk has officially recycled one million tonnes of waste, it has been announced by the Norfolk Waste Partnership.

The county's waste is taken to the Materials Recycling Facility at Costessey having been collected from people's homes, where the material is checked for quality, sorted by material, and then baled up to be sent on to be recycled.

The waste recycled by Norfolk has included materials like paper, cardboard, plastics, glass, steep and aluminium.

Councillor John Fisher, Chairman of the Norfolk Waste Partnership, said: 'This is a fantastic achievement by everyone who recycles in Norfolk.

'As a county, we already have a recycling rate which is above the national average and with your help, we can continue to improve on this.

'The three key rules when recycling in Norfolk are to rinse your recyclables out, let them dry and then put them loose into your recycling bin. Nothing in bags please.'

The one million tonnes have come from kerbside collections across the county since the MRF first opened for processing in April 2004.

Many items which cannot be recycled also find their way into the MRF each year, including about 400,000 nappies, which have caused issues when going through the machinery.

Councillor Fisher added: ''We'd like to remind everyone that nappies are rubbish and not recycling and should go in your household waste bin, not your recycling bin.'

The news comes amid discussions within the waste partnership exploring how Norfolk's recycling could be used within the county's businesses. Much of the recycling produced by Norfolk is sent to other facilities in the UK and Europe having been sorted, however there are opportunities for local companies to use the materials.

A partnership spokesman said there are companies which use recycled plastic to create paving slabs.

In January the NWP also met with the Palm Paper mill in King's Lynn to discuss future options for collaboration.

It comes after this newspaper reported how paper waste is shipped out to the Far East despite similar facilities existing in Norfolk.

The story led to Green Party councillors questioning how environmentally-friendly Norfolk's recycling scheme really is.