A waste and recycling service which was rolled out across South Bucks a year ago has been a success, councillors say, with food waste collections alone producing enough energy to power all the households in the district for two days.

South Bucks District Council celebrated the first year anniversary of the scheme this week and one of the people behind the project has said it has achieved a lot in a short time.

So far the new service has encouraged the council's recycling rate to soar from 34 per cent to more than 50 per cent.

Since the start of the new service, almost 2,000 tonnes of food waste has been collected which is said to produce enough energy to power all the households in the district for two days.

SBDC councillor Nick Naylor, portfolio holder for environment, said: “It’s great how residents have embraced the new and improved service and achieved so much in such a short time.

“It’s really important that we continue to divert as much and as many materials as we can away from landfill.

“We hope that the recycling rate continues to rise and this can only be achieved with the assistance of our residents.

“We want to thank all our green residents and encourage them to keep it up.”

For more information about the service and a list of what can and cannot be recycled visit www.southbucks.gov.uk/recycling

What do you think of the service? Have your say by emailing andrew.colley@london.newsquest.co.uk or call 01494 755089.