Leading supermarkets are making little progress in increasing their recyclable packaging, a report has said.

Up to 38 per cent of packaging cannot be recycled, down just 2 per cent from the first report in October last year, the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned.

Retailers still have "a lot further to go" if Britain is to hit recycling targets and avoid landfill tax and EU fines, the survey found.

Marks & Spencer and Lidl used the lowest percentage of packaging which could be recycled, at 62 per cent. M&S took the same title last year.

And Lidl was again the worst offender when it came to total volume of packaging used, with a basket of groceries using 813g, up from 799.5g last year.

M&S used the second-highest total amount of packaging at 807g for a basket, while Sainsbury's used the third-highest amount by weight at 746g.

The findings were based on analysis of packaging used for a basket of 29 common grocery items bought from Asda, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco, a local retailer and a market.

Asda's packaging weighed the least among the major supermarkets at 646g, 69 per cent of which was recyclable.

The local market used the least weighty packaging (617g) and the highest amount that could be recycled at 76 per cent.

Sainsbury's was the supermarket with the highest proportion of recyclable packaging, at 70 per cent.

Asda used 69 per cent recyclable packaging followed by Morrisons at 67 per cent and Tesco at 65 per cent.

LGA environment board chairman Paul Bettison said: "The days of the cling-film coconut must come to an end. We all have a responsibility to reduce the amount of waste being thrown into landfill, which is damaging the environment and contributing to climate change.

"Families will be pleased to see that more packaging in their shopping baskets can now be recycled. However, this survey shows there is still a lot further to go.

"Reducing packaging is vital if we are to avoid paying more landfill tax and EU fines, which could lead to cuts in frontline services and increases in council tax."

Recycling rates had increased to 33 per cent in England but this figure had to increase, the report said.

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