Hundreds of tonnes of food waste in Lincolnshire has been used to produce biogas instead of being sent to landfill as part of a trial scheme.

More than 200 tonnes of food was picked up in just the last year by South Kesteven Council, a new report said.

The waste was taken to an anaerobic digestion plant which produced the gas.

A report into the scheme has been published as the government is considering requiring making food waste collection compulsory for all councils.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a total of 1,137 tonnes of unwanted food was collected from homes during the four-year trial.

Each household was given one container for the kitchen and another for outdoors, with this being collected weekly from the kerb.

Around 80% of households participated initially, which declined as time went on, the report said.

The council estimated the continued weekly food waste collections would cost from £952,000 to £1,301,000 every year for the district, which could rise as petrol prices increased.

"The weight of food waste collected each month remained consistent over the first two years of the trial period, averaging 26 tonnes per month," the report said.

"Although food waste collections continued during the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, the amount of food waste collected reduced. Aligned to this, the amount of mixed dry recycling and residual waste increased significantly over the same period.

"This may be related to the restrictions placed on individuals resulting in them spending more time at home and revised arrangements at household recycling centres."

While anaerobic digestion is not considered recycling, the council said it was preferable to food ending up in bin bags in landfill.

The report is due to be discussed by South Kesteven Council's Environment Scrutiny Committee next week.

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