Portugal is at the bottom of Europe’s recycling heap, according to a new report from the British Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Green Alliance. The full study, which will be published this autumn, took into consideration figures for municipal waste management in the European Union from 2003/4 statistics.

Portugal is the European Union member state with the lowest recycling rate, a UK study published this week has found.

According to the report, Portugal recycles a mere three percent of the waste it produces, five percent less than the EU’s second lowest recycler Greece, and 15 percent adrift of Britain’s 18 percent recycling rate.

The Netherlands tops the EU recycling table with a figure of 65 percent. The Dutch are joined on the podium by Austria and Germany, with recycling rates of 59 and 58 percent respectively.However, despite its low recycling rate, Portuguese are the EU citizens who produce the least amount of waste per capita.

Second only to Greece, Portuguese generate 434 kilogrammes of waste per annum, less than half that produced by the Irish (869kgs), who in turn recycle 31 percent of this total.

The IPPR report meanwhile presents a number of solutions to EU governments on how to improve their citizens’ recycling rates.

It highlights examples from Germany, where some local areas charge around €0.30 per kilo for waste not recycled, boosting collection of recyclable materials to more than 65 per cent.

Nick Pearce, Director of IPPR, believes he has the solution for countries with poor recycling rates such as Portugal: “Local au thorities (should be given) powers to charge for collecting non-recyclable waste”, adding that some European states “have shown that where charges are common place, recycling rates will rise. But to make sure any new charging scheme for rubbish collection is fair, it needs to be accompanied by a reduction in council tax and an improvement in recycling facilities.”