A BRAND-NEW fleet of waste collection vehicles will be out across the Wokingham Borough to support the food waste collection service.

The vehicles will allow residual, mixed recycling and food waste to be collected by the same lorry, as the new food waste collections begin.

Each household will have a lockable 23-litre kerbside food waste container, which should be delivered by Monday, April 1. The idea behind the container is to prevent animals getting into the waste bin.

The council should have also delivered a smaller kitchen caddy and a roll of bin liners to each resident who lives in the borough.

The new collections are being introduced because currently only around 30 per cent of the blue bag waste can be recycled in regular food waste collections.

Sarah Hollamby, director of locality and customer services, said “Methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, is produced by decomposing food waste.

“Residents should have received their containers and liners by April 1 to partake in the service.”

The food waste will be sent to an anaerobic digestion plant, which captures the methane created by the waste to produce energy and fertiliser.

Ms Hollamby, added: “By introducing a food waste collection service, we are able to capture this methane and turn it into energy while also preventing it from entering the atmosphere."

Nearly all forms of food waste will be able to be collected including cooking oil, which should be stored in a sealed plastic bottle inside the locked kerbside container.

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

The bins will be collected on a weekly basis at the same time as the current blue bag and black box collections.

For more information about the collections days, visit: http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/rubbish-and-recycling/collections/.