OVER 66 tonnes of food waste was collected in the first week of the new food waste collection initiative in Wokingham.

A new fleet of vehicles were out across the borough as part of the council’s initiative to increase recycling rates.

During the first week of the scheme more than 66 tones was collected and taken to the anaerobic digestion plant in Wallingford.

Sarah Hollamby, director of locality and customer services believes that the results are showing a promising result for recycling.

She said: “Last week’s collections have showed great promise for our food waste recycling scheme.

"We’ve had lots of useful feedback and I’m so impressed by the enthusiasm of our residents for joining us in our fight to reduce Wokingham’s carbon footprint.”

The new collections were introduced because previous research revealed that only around 30 per cent of blue bag waste could be recycled in regular food waste collections.

The amount of rubbish collected means that a large percentage of the 64,000 delivered caddies have been used. However, the council believe there is still room for improvement.

Ms Hollamby, added: “There’s always room for improvement however, and I urge everyone who hasn’t used their caddy yet to join us.

“The more food waste we can recycle the better for our environment.”

In order to collect the food waste new vehicles allow residual, mixed recycling and food waste to be collected by the same lorry were deployed.

The food waste bags are removed before the anaerobic digestion process and sent to an energy recovery facility where they are incinerated to generate energy.

The council are aware that some individual addresses may have been missed but are correcting the problem.

For more information about where you can get new caddies, liners and to see waste collection dates, visit: www.wokingham.gov.uk.