But told they needed to prioritise, members of the Build a Greener Swindon Committee opted to look at getting a discount on a zero-waste meal planning app for council staff and to make it easier for residents to put electrical items out for recycling.

The council’s Strategic Lead for Sustainability and Climate Change, Edward Jones presented the options to the committee.

He said of the Sidekick meal-planning app: “You choose in what meals you’re going to cook, and there are vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and so on options, and it tells you what you need to buy, so there’s no food waste.

“It’s a real problem – statistics suggest we throw away about a third of what we buy – so for every £100  someone spends, they’re throwing away £33.”

Mr Jones said the cost of the app went down the more people signed up – the minimum was £2 per month – and staff would pay for it through a salary sacrifice scheme, also making it tax-efficient.

Councillor Jane Milner-Barry said she had downloaded it for a month’s free trial and it looks useful.

Members were also keen on investigating a scheme where the charity Material Focus can put out special collection bins in places like libraries for vapes and small electrical items.

Chairman, Councillor Neil Hopkins said: “I know I’ve got three or four items in my hall from before Christmas, and it’s a matter of finding the time to go to the Recycling Centre – so this would help.”

But Green Party  Councillor Tom Butcher sounded a note of caution: “I think we should do this whether with Material Focus.

“It’s just a matter of logistics of getting the things to the Recycling Centre and increasing the opportunity for people to recycle items is key.

But, he added: “I’d want to see something else to encourage people to make more conscious decisions. We wouldn’t want to encourage people to buy more and dispose of more.

“The mantra is Reduce, Re-use and Recycle, and we don’t want to focus too much on the last of those.”

The committee asked Mr Jones and his team to work on the sidekick app “as a quick win”. It said work to improve the eco-friendliness of supplier packaging should also be progressed but as part of the ongoing work for the council’s new sourcing strategy.

It said increasing the ease of recycling electrical items would be the next priority.