Each year, Colchester's 70,000 homes throw away 23,000 tons of food.

The cost of this food, its collection and eventual disposal - currently landfill - runs into seven figures. And it is rising. So is the amount of waste.

A few days ago, the Government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) unveiled a report which revealed UK households "needlessly wasted" £10 billion of food a year - £2 billion higher than previously estimated.

This quite stark figure forms the backbone of the report - The Food We Waste - and is more than indicative of our throwaway society.

But wasted food isn't just leftovers and plate scrapings. Each day we collectively throw away 1.3 million unopened yoghurt pots, four million apples, 5,500 whole chickens and 440,000 ready meals.

It gets worse - £1 billion of wasted food is still "in date".

So, at a time of rising food bills and increasing world poverty, what is going on in our fridges?

Chris Dowsing wishes he knew. What he does know is it can't continue. We have got to change the way we buy food; equally, our councils have to change the way they collect waste food.

"We estimate that 30 per cent of the average black bin bag is waste food," declared Mr Dowsing, Colchester Council's waste manager.

"Now we are now looking at collecting it separately, in sealed containers.

"At the moment, we are investigating how other councils are tackling food waste, then we will report to the council, which will make a decision."

Tim Young, the Colchester councillor in charge of street services - which includes waste collection - said the council is already encouraging residents to make their own compost from food waste by providing small composting bins, but pointed out the only way forward is food waste collections.

"Yes, it will be costly. I can't put a figure on it because we need to study how other councils are collecting food waste," he explained.

"Officers will be looking closely at Preston (Lancashire) which has one of the most successful and cost-effective systems.

COMPOST "Whichever system we adopt, we will have to have special vehicles. But, until the council decides how we are going to do this, we won't know whether we hire or buy them."

However this pans out, the bottom line will be to turn our food waste into compost and, fingers crossed, energy for heating and lighting.

And it is feasible. Already food waste from restaurants all over north Essex is going down this road.

One restaurant which has been recycling food waste for some time is The Lemon Tree in Colchester.

But owner Patrik Minder is not content with this environmentally-friendly Brownie point. He is still frugal when it comes to waste.

"My kitchen creates as little waste as possible," he revealed.

"It is not very green and it certainly isn't good business to buy more than you need.

"You have to box clever in a restaurant, especially when it comes to understanding what people will eat.

"Sometimes we get it wrong and sometimes we are lucky, but I think we have the right balance."

He uses local suppliers and has fresh produce delivered six days a week. Waste is minimal - broccoli stalks become soup, onion skins are roasted and used in sauces, chicken and lamb bones create stock.

"Anything which can't be used goes in the food waste bin along with customers' leftovers.

"We use a private firm for disposal. It has this special machine which separates the food waste for recycling," he said.

"I would say more than 80 per cent of our food waste is recycled."

As The Lemon Tree's food waste comes in at between two and three per cent of the food bought - Mr Minder spends £120,000 annually on all foods - this restaurant is head-and-shoulders above the average household in the buying and recycling stakes.

This is what Mr Young wants for all of Colchester.

"The question isn't whether or not we can afford to do it," he insisted.

"The question is can we afford not to do it?"

THE UK FOOD MOUNTAIN

  • In one year UK households throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food - and most could have been eaten. This waste could fill Wembley Stadium eight times over
  • The average household throws out £420 of good food a year. For the average family with children this rises to £610
  • The carbon impact of food waste is enormous. Tackling it would provide a carbon benefit equivalent to taking one in five cars off the road
  • Most of the wasted food reaches landfill sites where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas
  • Food is thrown away for two main reasons - it gets forgotten or too much is served up and leftovers are not used.
  • For more information on the Love Food Hate Waste campaign go to the website below. Other Wrap programmes can be found at the Wrap website below