FOOD waste is a bigger cause of climate change than plastics, according to a government-funded group promoting sustainability.
Zero Waste Scotland has called on people to cut down on the amount of unwanted food they put in their bins to help reduce the level of harmful methane gas which is released into the atmosphere.
READ MORE: For Scotland, recognising the planet’s plight is only the start
Methane is produced when food waste ends up in landfill sites and rots, emitting one of the most damaging greenhouse gases which drives climate change.
Zero Waste Scotland, which promotes the sustainable use of resources, found in research that 456,000 tonnes of food waste was collected in Scotland in 2016, compared with 224,000 tonnes of plastic waste.
Only 93,000 tonnes of the food waste was sent to dedicated food waste recycling collections, with most of the remainder sent to landfill.
Around 150,000 tonnes went to home composting or ended up in sewage works after going down the drain from kitchen sinks.
The agency calculated that the carbon footprint of food waste collected from Scottish households that year was nearly three times that of plastic waste from people’s homes, at roughly 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) compared to 0.73MtCO2e.
Zero Waste Scotland has now launched a Food Waste Reduction Action Plan with the Scottish Government aimed at reducing food waste across Scotland by a third by 2025.
The agency’s chief executive, Iain Gulland, said: “It might seem bizarre but scraping that leftover lasagne, mince or salad from your plate into the bin is seriously damaging the planet, because when those scraps of pasta and lettuce which you never got around to eating end up in landfill, they rot.
“As they break down, they emit methane, which is many times more harmful in the short-term to our climate than carbon dioxide (CO2).
“Food waste is actually a bigger cause of climate change than plastics.”
Gulland added: “It is still vital that we continue to reduce plastic waste, which remains an extremely serious issue.
“But as more people ditch single-use plastics as awareness grows of the wider impact of plastic waste, including pollution, we will send a strong message on the damage caused by binning leftovers and other wasted food.”
Zero Waste Scotland estimated that every Scottish household could save an average of £440 per year by reducing the food it wastes simply through steps such as better planning of meals, making better use of storage such as freezers and being inventive with leftovers.
The Scottish Government has also launched a new advertising campaign, entitled Food Gone Bad, to help raise awareness of the impact food waste has on climate change and how to reduce it.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: “Following the First Minister’s declaration of a global climate emergency, we are reviewing a range of policies across government to ensure we do all we can to support the public sector, businesses, communities and individuals to meet our shared climate responsibilities.
“We would encourage everyone to consider what more we can all do to help reduce food waste.”
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