A NEW waste food recycle scheme in Renfrewshire is also helping to tackle youth unemployment, council bosses have claimed.

Renfrewshire Council recently launched weekly home collections to make it easier for residents to recycle food waste.

The new scheme has created 24 jobs, with 15 of the vacancies being filled by unemployed young people aged between 18 and 25.

The young people were recruited through the council's Youth Employability Service and took part in a five-week training programme before the service launched on September 16.

The food waste will be made into fertiliser and used to generate energy.

Councillor Eddie Devine, convener of the council's Environment Policy Board, said: "As well as reducing waste and creating a greener Renfrewshire, tackling youth unemployment is a key priority for the council so this is a win-win situation."

Gary McGrath, 23, from Paisley is a joiner to trade but was unemployed for a year before joining the new food waste team. He said: "I'm enjoying my new job and am really grateful for the opportunity.

"The team is great, and it's good to know that every day, we're delivering a service that will help local people to recycling more and help the environment. I definitely see a future career in recycling."

A total of 72,000 households across Renfrewshire have received new food waste caddies: a seven litre indoor caddy and a 23 litre outdoor caddy, plus a three month supply of biodegradable caddie bags.

The caddies are emptied weekly on the same day as the usual refuse collection service.

The scheme will be rolled out to residents in high rise and maisonette properties, plus a number of tenements and flats later in the autumn.

Once it's fully operational the service aims to collect between 13 and 15 tonnes of food waste per day - that's roughly what one and a half bin lorries can hold.

Glasgow City Council is currently trialling a similar scheme in 43,000 homes across the city.

The authority intends to extended the scheme to every household in Glasgow before 2016.

ewan.fergus@ eveningtimes.co.uk