FAMILIES are believed to be wasting less food thanks to a new recycling collection.

But the recycling scheme is working differently to how a council first thought it would work.

There’s evidence that Calderdale residents are cutting back after the borough introduced a new waste food recycling caddy.

Jill Baker, from the council’s waste and recycling management team, told Brighouse residents recently: “We introduced the caddy for people to put food waste in and we can recycle that.

“It began really well, people were using it, but we’ve seen what we’re collecting has reduced.

“The feedback we’ve had is that it’s made households realise how much food they are wasting.

“Some have told us they’re freezing some leftovers, others are being smarter with their cooking and others may be buying less in the first place.

“It’s thought the average family will waste around £600 of food a year, we hope they’re saving that now.”

The council collects scraps of raw or cooked meat and fish, all dairy products, raw and cooked vegetables and fruit, bread, cakes pastries, rice, pasta, beans and uneaten food from plates and turns it into compost for agricultural land.

The Calderdale officer was speaking to residents at the last Brighouse Ward Forum, and she spoke about the authority’s recycling scheme.

The council says that rotting food in landfill generates methane – a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Surveys have shown that the average household bin is made up of 20% of food waste, so reducing the waste reduces the council’s landfill cost.

Food waste that is collected is taken to a special processing plant where it is treated in an enclosed vessel. As the food breaks down, the temperature is carefully controlled to ensure that the finished product is completely sterile.

The finished material will be used for horticultural and to help with the restoration of landfill sites.

In the year 2010/11 Calderdale residents were the leading recyclers in West Yorkshire with 41% recycling, but they’re still spending around £500,000 on landfill for items which could have been recycled.

The council has reduced its tonnages sent to landfill from 100,000 down to 40,000 in recent years, with a further 32,000 tonnes recycled. At around £64 a tonne the cost of disposing of the material at landfill is having an increasingly expensive impact on the cost of Calderdale’s waste disposal.

They currently contract SITA, but that contract is due to end in 2015 and consultations are underway now to source residents views about the recycling and bin collection scheme before the tendering process begins.

Jill Baker added: “It’s a long process of drawing up a new contract, which is why we’re asking people now what improvements they’d like to see.”

Clr Scott Benton, a Brighouse ward councillor, told residents recent trials of garden waste collections in Hipperholme and Illingworth had been a success.

He said: “We are looking at opening that up again in the future.”

The consultation runs until December 31 with questionnaires at libraries and council offices.