Tandridge District Council in Surrey will introduce weekly food waste collection to residents from 1 October 2012 in the hope of increasing the council recycling rate by 30 per cent, to a total of 63 per cent.

The food waste collections, which will be processed at waste management firm Vertal’s anaerobic digestion plant in Mitcham, will be added to the current alternate weekly kerbside recycling services and will service 35,000 properties in the Tandridge area. The overhaul is expected to save the council up to £900,000 annually.

Residents receiving the new service shall be provided with two Straight plc food waste bins from tomorrow (1 August): a 5-litre Solid Kitchen Caddy for kitchen peelings and a 23-litre Kerbside Caddy for external collection.

Jonathan Straight, Chief Executive at Straight plc said “We are extremely pleased to be working with Tandridge District Council to assist with the implementation of their new food waste collection. Using our Kitchen Caddy and Kerbside Caddy provides a simple, effective and proven food waste collection system, which works very well.”

Chairman of Tandridge District Council’s Community Services Committee, Councillor Tony Elias, added: “Following feedback from neighbouring local authorities who have already introduced a food waste collection and use these products, we decided to use the 5 litre Kitchen Caddy and 23 litre Kerbside Caddy as they are extremely robust products, easy to clean and are ideal sizes for food waste collection. We hope to make a significant impact on our recycling rate.”

Tandridge has also become the first local authority to commit to using iESE’s new waste framework, however it shall not be utilising the framework for its waste and recycling collections due to previous contractual commitments.

Further information on the district’s food waste collections can be found on Tandridge District Council’s website.