In the week that it was announced that the district had reached its highest level of “dry recycling”, the district council has removed all the recycling bins from car parks in the area.

It was revealed that people in the district are now recycling more than 30% of their rubbish, excluding compostable waste, and 45.9%, the second highest in Kent, including waste that can be composted.

This represents a 75% increase in recycling over the past four years.

But when people went to drop their bottles and cans into the bins that have been situated in council car parks and other sites this week, they found the bins were no longer there.

A spokesman for the council told the Mercury: “Following the great success of the council’s kerbside collection service, we can confirm that we are in the process of removing the ‘bring sites’ from areas around the district.

“While door-to-door collection rates continue to rise, the tonnage collected from our bring sites has continued to drop to the point that it is no longer viable to maintain them.”

The average amount of non-recyclable waste per household for the district in the year April 2012 to March 2013 was 347.4kg, the lowest in Kent, and is a decrease of more than 40% on figures for the district for 2008/09.

Cllr Nicholas Kenton, the council’s cabinet member for environment, waste and planning said: “This is a great achievement, and we would like to say a big thank you to all householders who have been taking the time to recycle. We look forward to continuing to work with residents to protect the environment and to recycle for the future.”

For more information about recycling, visit www.dover.gov.uk