Put your food waste to good use

Did you know that we end up throwing away one fifth of the food we buy?

That’s like a family of four having another mouth to feed. Most of this food and drink waste – two thirds of it – could have been used.

Avoiding food waste is always the best option, but some of the food we throw away is unavoidable – food we can’t eat, like banana skins, eggshells and coffee grounds, so if you have a garden, autumn is a great time to think about getting a compost bin, as half of what’s in your rubbish bin can probably go in here.

The new season is a great time to gather up all your garden waste, which can compost over the winter months to provide you with wonderful, nutrient rich compost just in time for spring.

There are a few ways to make sure that our unused food and drink doesn’t end up in the landfill.

You can use food recycling services that are available here in Edinburgh, or you can compost your food waste.

If you use a food waste collection service, your food waste is transported to a composting facility.

The anaerobic digestion process generates green energy, heat and environmentally friendly fertiliser products, which can then be used by Scotland’s farmers.

There are a number of ways to produce compost, and methods available to suit all lifestyles and a range of compost bins are available at most garden centres, or online.

You can compost some foods in a composting bin, or heap at home and add them to any garden waste you compost, too.

There are lots of simple things we can all do to reduce food and drink waste.

n For more information, please visit the Scottish Government Greener Together website www.greenerscotland.org