Call to recycle food separately

At least a quarter of UK councils insist households separate food waste

All households in England and Wales should be required to put food scraps in a separate bin to reduce landfill, says the Local Government Association.

It is calling for additional funding to extend existing schemes.

Figures obtained by the Daily Telegraph showed 113 councils, out of the 434 in the UK who dispose of rubbish, already collect food waste separately.

Critics warn all the different waste bins could be confusing, particularly for pensioners.

Figures from the government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) show that out of the 113 councils who already collect food waste separately, 59 use special bins, while 54 allow it to be mixed with garden waste.

Weekly basis

Paul Bettison, who chairs the LGA's environment board, told the BBC food scrap collections might help reduce some of the smells caused by fortnightly waste collections.

He said: "Most food waste recycling systems actually require the food to be reasonably fresh when it's taken away for recycling, and so many householders might find if they did have a special collection bin for food then it would probably be emptied by their local authority on a weekly basis."

He added that most councils would rather "convince and persuade" residents to adopt the scheme, rather than be "draconian".

Phillip Ward, of WRAP, said: "Collecting food waste separately is a very effective way of reducing the amount sent to landfill and the environmental damage this causes."

But shadow local government secretary Eric Pickles said: "Food waste collections have a role to play in increasing recycling, but the sheer proliferation of different boxes collected at different times in different ways by councils makes it very confusing."

About half of the local authorities in the UK currently operate so-called "alternate week collections", whereby recyclable waste is removed one week, and black bag rubbish the next.

The move from the traditional weekly collections has proved controversial with some households.

They are concerned about the smells and possible health risks associated with leaving unpleasant waste items, such as dirty nappies, in a bin for two weeks.