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An extra 70,000 households in Leeds could receive a brown bin to be used for both garden and food waste.

The city council said the move would enable it to improve the amount of food waste being recycled.

The authority introduced glass recycling using household green bins in August and it said this had enabled it to consider using brown bins for both food and garden waste.

Mohammed Rafique, executive member for environment, said: "This would mean Leeds would remain a three-bin city, but offering a full range of recycling options."

Presently households in Leeds use a black bin for general household waste, a green bin for glass, metal and plastic, and a brown bin for garden waste.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Rafique said the city already met its requirements to recycle metals, plastic, paper and glass.

“That leaves food waste as the remaining waste stream to collect and recycle," he said.

“We are therefore considering allowing food waste to be presented with garden waste in brown bins, expanding the current service to be all year round and made available to more households."

Mr Rafique said the authority was still waiting for information from central government on future funding for food waste collections.

A decision on whether to proceed with the expanded brown bins scheme would be made later this year following consultation, he said.

Further options would also be considered over food waste recycling for households without a brown bin, Mr Rafique added.

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