Ealing is leading the way to saving the environment by becoming the first London borough to recycle food waste into compost and energy.

Ealing Council Hundreds of tonnes of food leftovers are sent to Biogen's anaerobic digestion plant, in Bedfordshire, and generated into organic fertilser or renewable energy.

The council has been making weekly collections of recycled waste since 2006 and last year it began a six-month trial to reduce the volume of harmful gases coming from ever-increasing landfill site waste.

Ealing Council's executive director of environment and customer services, Keith Townsend, said: "Recycling rates have soared across the borough over recent months and it's a great achievement for Ealing to be the first council to be recycling all of its food waste in the most environmentally efficient way possible."