Food waste reduction: action plan

Ministerial Foreword

In our Climate Change Plan we committed to an ambitious target of reducing Scotland's food waste by 33% by 2025. This Action Plan sets out a number of measures that will support the delivery of this target.

Scotland is a country internationally renowned for its food and drink. Our commitment is to be a Good Food Nation by 2025. This means a country where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food they produce, buy, cook, serve, and eat each day. This commitment sets out our intention to ensure that we appreciate our food. But it is also increasingly important that we see our food as a something that has real value; something we should not casually over-purchase, over-consume or throw in the landfill bin.

Food waste in landfill is harming our environment and contributing to climate change. Recycling food waste stops that waste going into landfill. 80% of Scottish households have access to food waste recycling so there is no excuse for most of us not to recycle our food waste. Like many of our throw-away habits, it is a behaviour that we need to shift and that we can encourage others to change. That is why we have, as the first action under this Plan, launched a media campaign to promote food waste recycling to citizens so that we can highlight the harmful environmental impact of food waste.

In a world of finite resources, there is the moral imperative to reduce our demand on the planet's resources. Food waste is harmful to our environment and the production, processing and transportation of food that is not consumed is a waste of resources and has no place in the circular economy we want to develop in Scotland.

This Plan sets out how the Scottish Government, public sector organisations, businesses, industries and consumers can work together to reduce food waste.

Roseanna Cunningham
Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform