People in blocks of flats in Banbury are set to join Cherwell District Council’s food waste scheme after previously being excluded.

Brown caddies for food waste will be delivered to homes from tomorrow.

Flats were initially excluded from the scheme because they did not have the brown bins used for garden and food waste.

But a shared brown bin will now be provided in a communal bin areas for households to share.

Council staff will be calling at flats when they deliver the caddies to explain the scheme to residents and answer questions.

George Reynolds, the council’s executive member for the environment, said: “This is the last big push in a project which has taken a year to roll out. I’m immensely proud of all the hard work our staff have put into this and their efforts show in the results we’re achieving.”

Over the past year, 2,785 tonnes of food waste was sent for composting.

In July, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that people living in Cherwell had increased their recycling from 49.5 per cent of waste to 51.3 per cent since August last year.