East Dunbartonshire Council has renewed a two-year contract to send its food waste to Scotland's first large-scale recycling facility to be used to generate renewable energy.

The Council has committed to continue sending waste to Scottish Water Horizons' Deerdykes Bioresources Centre near Cumbernauld where it undergoes anaerobic digestion – a process which uses bacteria to break down organic matter.

Colin Lindsay, Operations Manager at Scottish Water Horizons said: "A less sustainable alternative is to use comingled waste - mixing food and garden rubbish – which goes to composting.

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"This generates greenhouse gases – including methane – which are harmful to the environment. Sending waste to a food waste recycling facility which uses anaerobic digestion avoids this issue whilst generating sustainable energy.

"Last year East Dunbartonshire sent 3000 tonnes of food waste to us for processing, that's the equivalent of more than a quarter of a million weekly food shops, reducing a massive 1850 tonnes of carbon.

"This has been a great effort on East Dunbartonshire's behalf in encouraging the public to separate their food waste, and we are confident through working together that we can build on that success in the years ahead."