Under new plans being drawn up by ministers in Whitehall every home will be issued with a slop bucket to allow all food waste to be recycled. Under the new plans the dumping of food waste in rubbish bins will be banned and instead it will all be sent to recycling plants.

The new scheme will mean that every kitchen in Britain will have a slop bucket or kitchen caddy as they are referred to in Whitehall. Everything from mouldy vegetables to left over’s from meals will have to go in the bucket.

Anyone who doesn’t use the new slop buckets and puts food waste out with their normal rubbish will face a fine of up to £500.

The new scheme has already been tried out over last year at 94,000 homes where a major problem has already been found. This is the bad smell caused by piling up old food waste in a bucket which can also cause infestations of either flies, maggots or rats.

Despite the hygiene problems that could be caused the scheme is set to go ahead by the end of 2011.