St Albans has come fifth in a new countdown of the least wasteful towns and cities in England.
The Cathedral city generates 340kg of household waste per person per year, 16 per cent below England's average, according to research by Bower Collective.
It also has the 10th highest recycling rate of the areas polled, placing it ahead of 91 per cent of its English rivals.
The study compared 112 areas of England, giving each one a 'wasteful score' based on government statistics for household waste, recycling and fly-tipping.
It also compared 2019-20 data with figures from five years earlier to see how things had improved – or got worse – in each area.
In St Albans' case, fly-tipping has decreased by 33 per cent since 2014-15 while recycling has increased by 4 per cent.
The city has also seen a 1 per cent decrease in household waste, one of just 15 towns and cities to record a decline in this area.
Stroud in Gloucestershire was crowned England's least wasteful area, followed by Colchester in Essex, Dover in Kent and Worcester.
Nottingham was named the most wasteful, followed by South Shields and Sunderland.
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