Local councils have said they are "ahead of the game" when it comes to collecting food waste.

Warwick District Council and Stratford-on-Avon District Council introduced a separate food waste collection when the new new 123+ system started last August.

Other councils will soon have to follow suit as the Environment Act 2021 , which comes fully into effect on 1 April, will mean that food waste must be collected separately from other household waste at least once a week.

Run by Biffa Waste Services Ltd , the new collections in Warwick and Stratford have "already proved highly successful" according to the councils.

Since the launch of the scheme, a total of 4,412.48 tonnes of waste has been collected in the region.

The household food waste is treated at Severn Trent Green Power's Coleshill anaerobic digestion facility.

Anaerobic digestion is a process through which specialist bacteria break down organic matter - such as food waste - in the absence of oxygen and produce biogas.

The Coleshill facility can treat up to 50,000 tonnes of household and commercial food waste each year, which is enough to generate 2.4 Megawatts of electricity.

The biogas produced from this process is either converted to electricity and exported to the national electricity grid or further treated and exported to the national gas grid, supplying homes and businesses with renewable energy.

In the two weeks between Christmas and New Year, nearly 460 tonnes of food waste was collected separately across the two districts.

Waste collected from 27 December to 6 January:

• Food 459.46 tonnes (229.73 tonnes each week)
• Recycling 1,191.88 tonnes
• Refuse 1,173.26 tonnes

This compares to an average of 188 tonnes collected every week since the 1 August, an increase of 42 tonnes per week of food waste over the Christmas period.

Warwick District Council's portfolio holder for neighbourhood services, Cllr Moira-Ann Grainger said: "The new 123+ waste and recycling service has been a real game changer for our district, significantly increasing recycling rates and reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.

"It is important that we all do what we can to reduce the impact we have on the environment and the switch to weekly food waste collections means that our left-over food is now put to other uses such as making fertiliser or generating electricity rather creating harmful greenhouse gases.

"I want to extend our thanks to local residents who have played such an important part in the success of the new service."