Households will have weekly food waste collections from early 2026

The government recently announced plans to reform recycling across England.

In a bid to boost recycling rates and offset the costs of processing food waste, Lancashire County Council plans to refurbish existing equipment at the Farington Waste Recovery Park.

At the next Lancashire County Council's Cabinet meeting on January 18, plans have been recommended for approval, using a process called anaerobic digestion. This creates a gas, converted into electricity, which will be used to power the processes at the facility.

An initial investment of £2.5m will enable the existing plant equipment to be put into operation and is expected to save around £2.035m in the longer term.

Modelling suggests that each year, around 40,000 tonnes of food waste will be collected in Lancashire. Yearly, it would cost around £1.984m to process this through anaerobic digestion; but the electricity created would save energy costs of around £4.019m.

If the venture is successful, Thornton Waste Recovery Park also has equipment that could be refurbished and used as a secondary site if needed. Between the two sites, around 60,000 tonnes a year could be processed. Any spare capacity could be sold commercially, generating income to further reduce operating costs.

Processing food waste in this way will also save around £4.301m against the costs currently incurred in disposing of it. As such, the overall savings are estimated at £6.336m, annually.

County Councillor Shaun Turner, cabinet member for Environment and Climate Change at Lancashire County Council said: "Converting household waste into electricity will save £6.3m a year as well as reducing our carbon footprint.

"The government aims to roll this out nationally by spring 2026 and we plan to make the best use of the separately collected food waste using the facilities that we already have.

"Overall, our plans will save us money in the long run, whilst also being better for the environment.

"Food waste is currently collected fortnightly in with general rubbish in most areas, we hope that weekly collections will be a more appealing prospect for our residents."