Boost in recycling figures provides food for thought

Rochdale Borough is celebrating its green credentials as it gears up to mark the first anniversary of the introduction of food recycling.

A whopping 1432 extra tonnes of food and garden waste has been recycled since the introduction of food recycling in the borough at the beginning of October last year, saving the council £200,000 in landfill costs.

The environmental management service delivered free food caddies to the 56,000 properties in the borough who have a brown garden waste bin to help boost recycling rates.

The small caddies can be kept on the kitchen worktop and filled with all leftovers and scrapings before being emptied into the brown garden waste bin for collection.

The caddies come with a starter pack of liners which can be tied and dropped into the brown food and garden waste bin as they are completely compostable. A number of outlets across the borough also sell food caddy liners.

All the food and garden waste is then processed and used as a fertiliser at farms across the North West.