Food waste
We believe that far too much food and drink goes to waste, unnecessarily draining resources and budgets.
Over one million tonnes of food and drink in Scotland was wasted in 2021. Fifty-nine percent comes from households, 27% from food and drink manufacturing and 14% from other sectors.
Reducing food waste
We have committed to work towards UN SDG 12.3 to halve food waste by 2030. Our review of progress since 2019 (January 2024) outlined the need to reset our approach to more effectively tackle the issue. The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 and circular economy and waste route map are tools to help do this. They outline our proposals on the mandatory reporting of food waste and our intention to develop a behaviour change intervention plan to help tackle food waste that occurs in businesses and in households.
Our efforts to tackle food waste will include both avoidable and unavoidable food waste, and focus on prevention. It won’t include food waste recycling, because by that point the food has already been wasted.
For more information on how you can tackle food waste visit the Zero Waste Scotland website.
Industry food waste
We have made regulations to ensure that the biggest food businesses recycle their food waste.
The Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 initially required all food businesses generating more than 50 kilograms in non-rural areas to recycle their food waste. In 2016 we extended the requirements to those generating more than 5 kilograms.
Power from waste
Anaerobic digestion is a natural but accelerated process in which micro-organisms break down organic matter such as food waste in sealed vessels in the absence of oxygen. This generates a biogas which can be used directly in engines, in the same way as natural gas, or as vehicle fuel.
Anaerobic digestion plants are becoming more numerous in Scotland, enabling us to get further use out of food waste and increasing our resource efficiency.