Why is recycling food waste important?

One in four councils in the UK will miss a deadline to introduce weekly food waste collections, a new investigation has found.

The government department responsible - called the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) - promised in a new law that all councils would pick up food waste from people's homes and recycle it from March 2026.

However, more than 70 councils, which is around a quarter of those in the UK, have told the BBC that they will not be able to do this.

Around 50 said they'd be able to implement it by the end of the year, but some could not give an estimated start date.

Some councils have said money is a barrier to bringing the changes in, while Defra have said they've given £340 million in grants to help do this.

Read onto find out what happens to our food waste and why it's important for it to be recycled...

The new Simpler Recycling policy aims to make recycling the same across the whole of England.

At the moment, different areas have different rules - for example, not all materials are currently able to be recycled everywhere, such as plastic chocolate tubs you might see at Christmas.

The new policy however will mean everyone can recycle the same things, using the same system.

The default recycling collections across England will be paper and card, food waste and dry recycling, including plastic, metal and glass.

A Defra spokesperson said it will "end the postcode lottery of bin collection".

Food, while delicious, takes a lot of energy to reach our plates.

It uses water and power to be grown, fuel to be delivered and then more to be cooked.

All of these things create greenhouse gases that get released into our atmosphere.

So by reducing food waste, we're reducing our impact on climate change.

But some food waste is inevitable, and recycling it can actually create energy too and stop rotting food releasing methane gas that contributes to climate change.

According to data from food waste charity WRAP, one kitchen caddy (the box you chuck your odds and ends into) of food waste produces enough electricity to:

One lorry of food waste produces enough electricity to:

Rosemary Brotchie, WRAP Senior Specialist for food waste, says: "When it comes to food, the most important thing we can all do is avoid it going to waste in the first place. Simple things like making a shopping list, checking cupboards and fridges before shopping can help prevent food becoming waste.

"It's important that we do collect and recycle food that does end up as waste as this can be recycled into organic material that can be used on farms to help grow more food, produce energy and prevent gases like methane from food that rots in landfill."

Leftover food that reaches recycling plants is first blended and then mixed with liquids, before being left to sit for a few months.

This process creates a gas, which can then be turned into electricity.

The leftover pulp also gets a new life, as fertiliser to help farmer's crops grow.