Stroud District Council (SDC) has announced that it is looking into the possibility of using food waste to power Stratford Park Leisure Centre, Gloucestershire.

Following the council's cabinet meeting in January, proposals are being drawn up for a new anaerobic digester facility to convert household and commercial food waste into energy. One of the potential locations for the installation is at the rear of the leisure complex, which has an annual electricity demand worth more than £35,000.

SDC said the anaerobic digester could produce double the amount of energy currently used by the centre and generate nearly £300,000 each year. Libby Bird, the council's cabinet member for climate change, said: "It will allow us to reduce the electricity and heating costs for the leisure centre and the museum."

It comes a week after Redditch Borough Council revealed its own innovative plans to save energy by using heat from a crematorium to heat the town's revamped Abbey Stadium site.