FOOD waste is now being collected from 7,000 Pendle homes after a scheme was launched this week.

Pendle Council is the first local authority to collect leftover and unwanted food in separate receptacles from homes.

During the first two days, the new food waste collection crew collected two tonnes of food waste.

From now on, Pendle Council will collect food waste from these homes every week.

It will be turned into high-quality compost for use on farms across the North West.

Residents in the 7,000 homes taking part in the food waste collections have two containers or ‘caddies’ to use to collect food waste.

They keep a kitchen caddy, about the same size as a toaster, inside the house and use it to collect their food waste.

This is lined with a corn starch liner which can be composted along with the food.

When full, the corn starch liner can be tied up and transferred to the outdoor caddy which is half the size of a green recycling box.

This can be stored outside and has a lockable lid to prevent pets and other animals getting at the food waste, even if the caddy is knocked over.