Virginia’s recycling rate passed 40 percent for the first time in 2010, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) annual report.

The state recycled 40.5 percent of its municipal and other solid wastes in 2010, an increase from the recycling rate of 38.6 percent a year earlier. Data comes from reports submitted from Virginia’s 71 solid waste planning units (either a local government or a regional authority).

“This significant improvement reflects the ongoing support by Virginians for recycling in their communities,” said DEQ Director David K. Paylor, in a news release.

The DEQ attributed much of the higher rated to an increased number of localities adopting single stream collection of recyclables.

Each Virginia planning unit must achieve a recycling rate of at least 25 percent, unless its population density is less than 100 people per square mile or its unemployment rate is 50 percent or more above the statewide unemployment average. Localities meeting these criteria must achieve at least a 15 percent recycling rate. The state adopted a recycling mandate in 1989.