Launching the campaign in his opening speech, Mr Lochhead said:
"The figures on the amount of food Scottish households throw out each year are staggering.
"Food waste makes up nearly 20 per cent of the household bin – around half of this food waste could actually have been eaten.
"If we cut our food waste by half this could save around 1,456,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions – the equivalent of taking 1 in 4 cars off the road.
"Tackling food waste is a key part of action the Scottish Government is taking on waste prevention and in line with our ambition to achieve a zero waste Scotland."
Nell Nelson, food writer, nutritionist and TV presenter of ‘The Woman Who Ate Scotland’ helped to launch the campaign with a cooking demonstration. Nell and our Food Waste Champions demonstrated how to make an orange and almond cake that uses up every bit of your leftover oranges.
Nell added:
"It’s hard to believe we are throwing out so much food in Scotland, a lot of which is still perfectly edible.
"I know most people don’t like wasting food, but they’re often unsure what they can do to avoid it, so in that respect, the Love Food Hate Waste campaign is a fantastic idea that will help the public do its bit to deal with the problem."
Our four Food Waste Champions, Alex, Graeme, Jo and Suzanne, shared their top tips for reducing food waste in the areas of
planning and preparation,
storing food,
portioning, and
recipe ideas for leftovers.
