Bin collectors in Watford picked up more rubbish in the early months of the pandemic than a year earlier, despite England seeing an overall drop.

Environmental campaigners Greenpeace say we’re still throwing away too much as a country and have called on ministers to “show some bottle” and fix the waste system.

Watford Borough Council collected 9,670 tonnes of waste between April and June last year, the latest Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs figures show.

That was up 1,266 tonnes (15%) from the amount recorded during the same period in 2019.

MORE: Joshua to fight Usyk after WBO orders mandatory defence

MORE: Arrests made after animal rights activists block McDonald's depots 

Of the rubbish collected over the period, 50% was sent for recycling – up from 48% a year before.

The figures count household and non-household waste, including recyclable and non-recyclable objects.

But Defra cautioned that some local authorities’ collections were heavily disrupted by the first coronavirus lockdown, which could affect the data.

Across England, councils collected 6.2 million tonnes of waste in the three months to June last year – down around 576,000 tonnes (9%) from a year earlier.

Of that, 43% was sent for recycling – a decrease from 46% in 2019.

"Covid has clearly impacted waste collection across the board, but it hasn't changed the fact that we're still producing too much rubbish and recycling too little of it,” said Greenpeace UK's political campaigner Sam Chetan-Welsh.

“If we want to fix our waste system, we need to cut the amount of waste we produce in the first place and invest in better recycling infrastructure to capture what's left.”

A recent report by Greenpeace revealed that more than half the plastic waste the Government counts as recycled ends up overseas in places like Turkey, where the group found evidence of it being dumped and burned illegally.

Mr Chetan-Welsh said the Government needs to stop exporting plastic waste and introduce an all-inclusive deposit return scheme for drinks containers.

He also called for legally binding targets to slash single-use plastics in half by 2025, adding: “It's time for ministers to show some bottle."

The Local Government Association said councils have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to keep household waste and recycling centres open and collection services running as best as possible.

“Any level of disruption would inevitably have an impact on recycling rates across the country,” said David Renard, the LGA’s environment spokesman, who added that rates were expected to increase again as restrictions eased.

He also called on the Government to push manufacturers to produce less plastic packaging that cannot be recycled.

A Defra spokeswoman said less than 10% of household waste is now going to landfill, while the amount of food waste being recycled has increased by over 40% since 2015.

She added: “But there is still a lot more to do, and that’s why we have brought forward major reforms for packaging and kerbside collections which will boost recycling, step up our war on plastic pollution and reduce litter.”