Environment Secretary, Richard Lochhead and Glasgow mum, Susan Jeffrey, launch the Scottish Government's latest Food Waste Prevention campaign.

Scotland has launched a new national campaign aimed at encouraging people to help combat the environmental and financial impacts of food waste.

According to the Scottish Government, one-fifth of all food and drink purchased ends up in the bin, costing the average Scottish household £430 a year.

The new food waste reduction campaign hopes to educate the public about ways in which they can reduce their food waste to avoid the £1 billion of national food waste costs and limit the creation of greenhouse gases.

Building on from the Love Food Hate Waste campaign that also operates in Scotland and aims to educate people about the cost and environmental impact of wasting food, this new ‘high-profile, short-term’ campaign is primarily focused on encouraging people to plan ahead before they go shopping and will only run until the end of November.

Steps that people can take to reduce food waste include:

• checking cupboards and writing a list before shopping;
• planning meals in advance;
• sensible portion planning;
• checking date labelling and storage information;
• using up or freezing leftovers.

Launching the food waste campaign on Monday (8 October), Scottish Environment Secretary, Richard Lochhead, said: "We all waste food but by making a few simple changes to the way we plan our meals, to our weekly food shopping, to using up leftovers and to better storage, we can help our pockets and the environment too. If we stopped avoidable food waste we’d save around £35 per household per month.

"The new food waste reduction campaign aims to benefit everyone by providing practical help and advice, it seeks to empower everyone to shop smarter, waste less, save more and help create a greener, cleaner Scotland now and for the future."

The campaign comes as part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 42 per cent by 2020 (increasing to 80 per by 2050) and comes ahead of a proposed ban on sending food waste to landfill by the end of 2020.

Councillor Stephen Hagan, Spokesperson for Development, Economy and Sustainability for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), welcomed the new campaign, saying: "COSLA welcomes this campaign and the focus on prevention in the first instance as this has the dual advantage of being good for the environment and for household budgets.

"Councils have demonstrated great progress towards achieving the zero waste vision we share with the Scottish Government, and local authorities are rolling out food waste collection services across Scotland to help communities to recycle unavoidable food waste.

"Good progress has been made but reducing council budgets will come under more pressure to continue this direction of travel. Small steps by individuals to tackle food waste will make continuing this progress an easier task in hard times."

As well as being supported by TV advertising, social media, and the website Greener Scotland, the campaign will also include a national information roadshow across Scottish towns and cities, beginning on 19 October.

For more information, visit Greener Scotland.