Kingston has topped a league of London councils that provide residents with either separate food waste or combined food waste and garden collections.

While 10 London councils still do not provide separate food waste collections for residents, Kingston has 95 per cent of households catered for.

Richmond was placed joint third in the table, with 81 per cent, meaning less food waste heading for incineration and landfill.

Richmond Park and north Kingston MP Zac Goldsmith, who uses one of the food bins, said: “Households across the UK throw away more than 8m tonnes of food each year, which is utter madness.

“It’s great Kingston is tackling the issue so energetically, and I hope others will follow the example.”

When Kingston introduced changes to collections in September 2008, they were unpopular, but within six-months of a new waste collection service starting, recycling rates almost doubled.

The borough’s recycling and composting rate reached 47 per cent between January and March 2009, almost double the 25 per cent being diverted from landfill in the same period the previous year.

Recyclables, which include food waste, are now collected weekly, and landfill rubbish is collected fortnightly.