SOMERSET County Council is to spend £118,000 on stickers for people to put on their bins.

The county is taking part in the ‘Slim My Waste, Feed My Face’ campaign, which aims to persuade people to keep their food waste separate from their regular, non-recyclable rubbish.

As part of the campaign, individuals will be provided with stickers to decorate their bins, and can win prizes every month for the best designed.

The Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) says decreasing the amounts of food waste being thrown away in regular collections will save taxpayers money, as well as benefitting the environment.

Under the campaign, all Somerset residents will receive a leaflet and range of stickers to decorate their bins.

These include a ‘I’m on a no food diet’ and bright yellow measuring tape stickers for the black bins, and a range of facial features for the brown food waste caddies.

Caroline Maddams, the SWP’s head of communications and engagement, said: “The stickers provide a visual reminder for people not to use their black wheelie bin for food waste.

“Targeted engagement will be carried out in schools and communities in low food waste participation areas. We partner with the Co-op county-wide as a collection point for food waste caddies.

“Residents are encouraged to share photos of their stickered bins on social media and can win a prize each month.”

The entire campaign is expected to cost £283,000 – of which £118,000 covers the design and production of the materials, and £126,000 will paid for labour and fleet movements.

The SWP has secured £103,000 in match funding, with the council’s director of public health Trudi Grant signing off the other £180,000 from the recently-created Improving Lives to Prevent Demand Fund.

Ms Maddams said just over one-quarter (26 per cent) of an average Somerset black bin was currently taken up with food waste – and of this, the majority is unopened food or leftovers rather than egg shells or bones.

She said: “When food waste ends up in landfill, it decomposes faster than other materials and produces a high amount of methane and other harmful greenhouse gases.

“Furthermore, it costs Somerset £35 more per tonne to put materials in landfill compared to the anaerobic digester – money which could be reinvested in Somerset’s economy.

“We believe that, based on the improvements in food waste capture rates shown in Bristol, significant strides in diverted food waste from the residual waste stream can be delivered.”

The campaign was launched by the Bristol Waste Company in 2017, with Ms Maddams saying it had ” significant results” in cutting the level of food waste being sent to landfill.

The SWP is predicting the amount of food waste being properly sorted and recycled could rise by up to 12.5 per cent as a result of the campaign.

Ms Maddams added such a shift in behaviour would have benefits for the Recycle More initiative, which is being rolled out across Somerset from March 2020.

Under Recycle More, more materials will be collected at the kerbside, with black bins being collected once every weeks instead of fortnightly.

Ms Maddams said: “If people are recycling their food waste weekly, they will find it easier to transition to Recycle More as they will have less residual waste and cleaner bins.”