By Ellis Stephenson and Nicola Everett

There are calls for a simpler way of dealing with our waste in Kent to boost recycling rates.

It comes as it has been claimed we are waking up to a 'plastic pollution crisis' adding to concerns that recycling is becoming too complicated.

Analysis of local authority websites in the county by KentOnline and kmfm news shows every council has a different scheme for dealing with the rubbish we throw away.

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At the moment residents have to cope with different schemes set up for waste to be collected by the local authority.

Co-chairman of the Green Party in Kent, Stuart Jeffery, thinks systems need to change.

He said: "It is very, very confusing for people.

"Some of the recycling areas will take some bits and not others - we do need something centrally from Parliament to say, actually all plastic needs to be collected and recycled.

"It needs to be simplified for people to be able to put it in a single bin. It is too complex with the variety we've got at the moment. I struggle, and I'm into this stuff."

Data given to KentOnline by the Kent Resource Partnership, shows the overall household recycling rate for the county to be at 46.3%. But Mr Jeffery thinks that could be improved.

He added: "It is a bit of a poor excuse to say we're too busy to recycle because quite frankly this is our planet that we're giving to future generations. I do not want to see it covered in plastic litter.

"But it must be made easier, that's the key thing. It's got to be simple, it's got to be easy and it's got to be everything that needs to go away that we can't reuse and we can't reduce - it needs to be recycled."

Ashford has the best rate, with 55% of waste being recycled or composted.

Councillor Clair Bell, portfolio holder for environment and land management at Ashford Borough Council, said: "Ashford's recycling success is certainly something to be proud of and we could not have achieved these fantastic results without our residents' ongoing support and enthusiasm."

"Ashford residents are doing a tremendous job at recycling, but it is very important that we work hard to maintain, and where possible, improve this level."

Meanwhile 33.8% of waste in Thanet was recycled for composted, 34.5% in Gravesham, 38.3% in Sevenoaks, 41.6% in Swale, 42% in Medway, 42.5% in Folkestone and Hythe and Tonbridge and Malling.

In Canterbury 44.4%, 44.7% in Dover, 49.1% in Tunbridge Wells and 49.9% in Maidstone.

But Dartford had the worst rate of recycling at just 25.2%.

Leader of Dartford Borough Council, Jeremy Kite, defended the figures saying the council offers everything needed for people to recycle.

LISTEN: Co-chairman of the Green Party in Kent, Stuart Jeffery

He said: "We have always been crystal clear that Dartford council intends to deliver the service that residents tell us they want.

"Over the years, council after council has reduced the frequency of bin collections across the country to the point that some now only collect general household waste only once a month - all in the name of increasing recycling.

"It's no secret that I'm no supporter of reducing services but more important than that, we regularly ask residents to make sure they think the same.

"Earlier this year our latest Big Bin Vote showed nearly two-thirds of residents supported weekly bin collections, so that's what we deliver.

"The council provides everything any household needs to recycle and we encourage every resident to do so, but we believe in giving people the service they want.

"We will send only a tiny amount of waste to landfill, around 1% and we generate useable energy from the waste we collect."

LISTEN: Councillor Rory Love from the Kent Resource Partnership

Chairman of the Kent Resource Partnership, councillor Rory Love, said the county is on track to be recycling 50% of all waste by 2020.

He said: "What we try to ensure is that wherever possible we get the most accurate reflection of the waste resource that's being collected from the doorstep.

"It keeps us on track to be recycling half of all the waste that we collect from all households by 2020.

"I think this is something that local authorities are always working on, to try to make sure it's easier and that's one of the reasons why Kent councils have come together in the Kent Resource Partnership.

"I'm aware we're a partnership of the willing. What we're doing is sharing good practices and over time I've enormous confidence that's going to mean simple recycling services."

Despite Cllr Love's pledge to increase recycling to 50% of waste, the campaign group Friends of the Earth say we really should be aiming for much more.

Julian Kirby from the organisation said: "Kent's recycling rate is about average for the national, but other countries like the Flanders region of Belgium is recycling over 70%, and has been for quite some time so certainly we can go a lot further.

"But it's really important with respect to plastic in particular that we recognised that actually whilst recycling has to happen, in the long term, if we're going to end plastic pollution we're going to have to phase out all but the safest and most essential plastics.

"So, continue using it for things like blood bags and implants and so on in medical uses but get rid of it across the board elsewhere because plastic is a very polluting and potentially very harmful material at the end of the day."

WATCH: Inside a recycling plant

The recycling firm Viridor has a specialist plastics site on Rochester's Medway City Estate which takes in recycled resources and makes them into building materials, among other things.

The plant's operations manager, Edward Sarasketa, said: "I really want the public to get a better understanding of what we as an industry are doing and also help to inform them of what they can do to help us, by making sure they're putting the right things into the bin.

"We take 84,000 tonnes of material into the site. Not all of it is plastic because not everything has been put in the right bin.

"Sometimes, just to give you an understanding, we get things like drill batteries, because they're covered in plastic it doesn't mean that should be sent to us because they could start a fire.

"It's about education for the public and understanding what they can do and hopefully get that across to councils.

"On a personal and business position I hope that this brings together both industry, the public and government moving away from a throw away view of plastic and products so we can reuse, reduce or recycle what we use from the shops."

One man has started his own mission to display a year's worth of plastic in one place.

LISTEN: Julian Kirby from Friends of the Earth

On Friday, March 30, a giant picture was put up at Margate's Dreamland showing the rubbish Daniel Webb had collected over a whole year.

It contained around 4,500 pieces of plastic, of which 93% is single-use throwaway packaging, with only 4% of it being recycled in the UK.

Mr Webb said: "After the initial announcement, we had such a great response to the project.

"Around 20 volunteers came in to help me count, categorise and weigh the whole collection, and it was fair to say we were all overwhelmed with the results of that.

"I obviously ate a lot of crisps and chocolate in 2017.

"The stats we’ve gathered are certainly going to shock a lot of people, but hopefully it’ll help them to understand how much throwaway plastic we use in our daily lives."

It comes as it was recently reported a binman was sacked after a video emerged appearing to show workers cross-contaminating rubbish.