A MAJOR deal to build three food waste recycling centres in Oxfordshire was signed this week, allowing kitchen waste collections to begin from this summer.

The food waste plants are to be created at Ashgrove Farm, Ardley and Worton Park, Cassington, with a third plant to follow at a site near Wallingford.

Power generated from the waste food will be enough to provide electricity to more than ten per cent of homes in Oxford.

Oxfordshire County Council has awarded the contract to the Oxfordshire-based company Agrivert Ltd, which will build and operate the plant. The plants will cost a total of £17m.

Work is expected to begin on the Ardley plant in May and it should be fully operational in December. The Cassington plant should open in June 2010. Planning permission is already granted for these two sites. The plant to serve south Oxfordshire will open in 2011, with discussions about its location continuing. Agrivert already operates a compost site near RAF Benson.

While the new centres are being built Agrivert will be sending food waste to recycling facilities outside the county.

But it is already clear most areas of the county, including Oxford, will not be geared up for food waste collections from homes until the autumn. Food waste in South Oxfordshire, however, will be collected from the beginning of June.