Two councils in Wales are planning to turn food leftovers into renewable energy or compost.
Powys and Ceredigion local authorities send about 15,000 tonnes of food waste a year to a shared landfill site near Llanidloes. In the future they plan to instead send the scraps to a special conversion plant, which they hope will be operational by 2013.
Exactly how the waste will be recycled – and into what form – is not yet clear.
The agreement between Powys and Ceredigion, called the Mid-Wales Waste Partnership, is the first of its type in the country.
Funding for the project has been provided by the Welsh Assembly.