Current status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it takes to discourage food waste.
The Scottish Government recognises that reducing food waste is a moral, environmental and economic imperative. This is why we have introduced the Scottish Food Waste Reduction Target, to reduce Scotland's food waste by 33% by 2025, to focus attention on the issue across sectors. We will shortly commence a series of wide-ranging stakeholder workshops to discuss what measures should be taken to achieve this ambitious target and to assess which options will be the most effective. Zero Waste Scotland published figures last week that showed that, between 2009 and 2014, household food waste has reduced by 5.7%. Our action to reduce food waste has included:
Supporting the Love Food, Hate Waste campaign through Zero Waste Scotland, which helps householders get the most out of the food they buy.
Supporting the Courtauld Commitment, which is a UK-wide voluntary agreement between retailers, manufacturers and the hospitality sector to reduce the environmental impact of their activities, including through the reduction of food waste both in store and by helping their customers waste less.
Supporting Resource Efficient Scotland to work with Small and Medium Enterprises to help prevent food waste
Three Scottish Government marketing campaigns to encourage people not to 'feed their bin' and help reduce emissions.