Leicestershire County Council, as part of an ongoing promotion are offering one free Green Cone food waste digester to all primary schools in the County to help encourage pupils and staff to reduce the amount of food waste sent to landfill.

The cones are offered with free professional installation, but do require a sunny position and good draining soil.

One Green Cone can digest two kitchen caddies worth of food per week, which makes it ideal to be sited on the edge of a playground for packed lunch or break time remnants such as bread crusts, peelings, apple cores etc. It is not suitable for the main kitchen or canteen use.

There was immediate interest from many schools across the county when the scheme started in November 2008. By the end July 2009 over 130 had been installed in various playgrounds or school gardens across Leicestershire.

One such eco school who joined the scheme straight away was The Elizabeth Woodville Primary School in Groby.

A hole was dug 42cm by 60cm big enough for the basket and some additional gravel was added to aid drainage, the double walled cone then sits above the grass. The height above the ground is only 70cm, small enough for even the new starters to use.

School's which are on the national fruit scheme can have the Green Cone installed right next to the playground encouraging all pupils to dispose of their own food waste.

A Green Cone DVD is available and the installed unit will be an invaluable educational tool for teaching children about food waste minimisation and disposal. An assembly talk can also be requested so a representative of Green Cone can explain to the whole school what it is and how everybody can use it.

There is also an advice line for any future support.