During the first national lockdown in 2020, self-reported levels of food waste fell by 34%. A new national research project has been created to understand the reasons for the positive change.
The 18-month research project has been awarded funding of £328,000 as part of the UK Research and Innovation’s response to Covid-19.
Iain Gulland, chief executive of Zero Waste Scotland, said: “The findings from this collaborative project will help us to understand how lockdown has changed our relationship with food, and the ways in which we can all tackle waste at home. We must do all we can to prevent food waste.
“When we waste food, we also waste the huge amounts of energy and associated carbon emissions from growing, transporting, refrigerating and packaging the food, and when we send wasted food to landfill this causes more harmful emissions.
“We’re looking forward to working with the University of Leeds and WRAP on this project, to better understand how to win the fight against food waste.”