HIGH levels of recycling have earned Swindon Council a one-star rating for its waste services.

The council's waste management service, including kerbside collections and street cleaning, has been given the "fair" one-star rank by the Audit Commission.

High recycling levels mean the council collects a low amount of waste, providing an "adequate" value for money service, with "promising prospects for improvement."

But the report found residents were not very satisfied with the service. Auditors said the council recognised the need to change residents' attitudes.

Audit Commission senior manager Melanie Watson said: "As a result of high level commitment and concerted action by the council, the waste service recycled or composted 32 per cent of all household waste in 2006/07, and it has good plans to transform the service over the next year to enable it to achieve its target to recycle 50 per cent of household waste by 2010."

Short term plans were found to be "well-developed", and longer term schemes to work with other authorities to combat landfill were praised.

The commission gave the council a list of recommendations for improvement, including bringing forward plans for waste treatment, ensuring continued value for money, promoting the new service and changing residents' attitudes through education.

The cabinet member for local environment, David Wren, said: "I am delighted that the Audit Commission has recognised the council's commitment and enthusiasm to continue to improve our waste services and increase the level of recycling and composting that our residents help us to achieve.

"If they were to come back this time next year, I think they would be totally impressed."

This week, the Adver reported that the new wheelie bin system with fortnightly collection will start in November.