Who gets food waste collections in the North East?
BBCMore councils have started making weekly food waste collections after missing a government deadline to do so but many are still not providing a full service.
Local authorities were given until March this year to introduce weekly food waste collections.
In June, just four out of the 12 councils in north-east England had begun providing the scheme to all residents. Since then, Middlesbrough Council has started a full service.
Other councils are offering the scheme to some residents, though numbers vary, while others have been granted a years-long exemption.
Food waste collections are now mandatory for several reasons including improving national recycling rates.
About 10 million tonnes of food is thrown away in the UK every year, which is about £1,000 worth for an average family, according to a government research briefing.
Hartlepool Borough Council said it had recycled almost 900 tonnes of food since it started the scheme.
Paul Moseley/BBCLocal authorities in Stockton, Darlington, Hartlepool, Redcar and Middlesbrough all provide a full food waste collection scheme.
Newcastle City Council said an increased demand for specialist vehicles and bins had affected its rollout.
It launched a pilot for 5,000 households in 2024 but has yet to expand this scheme. The authority said it expected to do in the coming months.
Durham County Council said it started rolling out collections in June and by the beginning of August was providing the service to more than 250,000 households.
But head of environment James Gilchrist said the authority was now assessing the needs of properties with shared spaces, such as blocks of flats.
He said these households often had "external space restraints" which affected food waste collections.
"Once each individual assessment has been completed, we will be in touch with the residents to let them know how their food collections will work and when they will start," he said.
North Tyneside Council said it started collecting food waste from more than 32,000 households in August but about 70,000 households were yet to receive the service.
Northumberland County Council will start collecting food waste from about 90,000 households this autumn, it said.
A wider rollout across the county is dependent on securing more funding, it added.
Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland councils have all been granted an extension until 2039 to start their collections.
All three already have a long-term arrangement in place for processing household waste, including food waste, that complies with the government's objective of diverting biodegradable waste away from landfill.
