Every resident will be asked to put their food scraps in a separate bin after it was announced the popular collection scheme will be rolled out across the borough.

Merton Council announced the food waste collection scheme, already used by 50,000 households, will be rolled out to a remaining 32,000 properties, including flats.

When it was launched in autumn 2009, a survey revealed 96 per cent of residents approved of the scheme and 79 per cent were happy with the brown food waste caddies.

Cabinet member for environmental sustainability, Andrew Judge, did not give a firm table of when the rollout would be completed, or whether action would be taken against residents who continued to throw away food in landfill sacks.

Councillor Judge said: "Composting food waste means we're reducing the amount that would otherwise be sent to landfill, making significant savings and good use of a valuable product at the same time.

“The service will also lead to cleaner streets by reducing the amount of black refuse bags put out for collection."

The council has estimated that the complete roll-out of the scheme will add 1,800 tonnes towards exceeding tis target of achieving over 40 per cent recycling and composting from April 2012 to April 2013.

This, it said, would reduce its landfill tax burden by over £100,000.

Funding for the scheme came from a successful bid to the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) which will provide up to £292,770.

But Coun Judge’s opposition number, Councillor Henry Nelless, welcomed the move but criticised the council for not doing it sooner, saying it was “better late than never.”

The opposition Conservative group's environment spokesman said: “Well, Labour had to do something right eventually when it came to recycling and street cleaning!

“Let’s not forget however that they are using money from Boris Johnson to pay for the scheme and stealing local Conservative ideas to progress it.

“There is no original Labour thought in this at all, but the benefits for those residents who will now finally get food recycling will be great.

“Labour have clearly been forced to act given the appalling results from the latest Annual Residents Survey in areas of refuse collection, recycling facilities and street cleaning. “

The brown caddies used in the scheme are manufactured by Straight – led by chief executive Jonathan Straight, who caused controversy in the 1980s when he changed his surname from Gay to Straight.

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