Portsmouth is set to see citywide food waste recycling as well as new mixed plastic recycling banks after funding was approved in the city's budget.

Around 55,000 homes are currently participating in the food waste trial but the scheme will now be extended to cover all of Portsmouth.

An additional boost to recycling will see up to10 new recycling banks introduced across the city for mixed plastics – pots, tubs, trays and films.

Cllr Dave Ashmore, the council's cabinet member for environment & climate change, said: ‘When we first introduced food waste recycling it was just for a small area but it was always our aim to provide it to the whole city and I'm absolutely delighted we're able to do that now.

‘Food waste is where we can make a really big difference, it is up to 40% of a lot of people's weekly rubbish collection. Food waste feeds climate change and we want to help people not only recycle it, but also reduce the waste too. We know recycling is a big issue locally and nationally, and residents are always asking us to do more so it's great to be bringing in more recycling banks as well.’

The new homes will join the food waste recycling scheme later this year. Households are provided with food caddies or communal bins and food waste is collected weekly on the same day as the rubbish collection. The waste is recycled and turned into fuel and fertiliser instead of being incinerated and energy being recovered.

Collectively, since the start of the trial in September 2019, over 3,700 tonnes of food waste have been sent to recycling. By making the scheme city-wide it is estimated that over 5,000 tonnes of food waste will be recycled each year. This could see Portsmouth's recycling rate increase from 24.7% to 30.4%.