Area recycling rates

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Residential recycling rates reflect the percentage of a community’s total waste recycled by residents in a single year. In 2010, the most recent information available, Massachusetts residents recycled 37 percent of everything they threw out. That year, the national average was 34 percent, one percentage point below the 35 percent recycling goal set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2005. Below is a list of local recycling rates derived from 2010 data provided by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Northampton 64

Southampton 62

Whately 45

Leverett 44

Belchertown 41

Worthington 39

Amherst 39

Shutesbury 37

Williamsburg 36

Greenfield 36

Goshen 36

Westhampton 34

Chesterfield 33

Cummington 29

Deerfield 28

Huntington 27

Easthampton* 25

South Hadley 24

Granby 21

Other

STATE 37

FEDERAL 34

SOURCE: The 2010 data were selected for this list because 2011 data provided by the DEP is incomplete. In 2009, due to budget cuts, the DEP ended department efforts to collect and analyze municipal waste and recycling data. In 2010, the DEP stopped requiring communities to submit this data. Data submission is now voluntary. Information for Hadley, Hatfield, Pelham and Sunderland were unavailable.

* Easthampton’s rate is from 2009, the last time data for the city was available.