£40,000 worth of food wasted by Scottish Parliament every year

According to The Scotsman, figures by the Evening News found that over a two month period, nearly 5% of all food produced for the MSP private restaurant, public café and the garden lobby cafeteria in the Holyrood building was thrown away. Independent MSP Margo MacDonald said that it is clear that there is a problem with food wastage: "The bulk of waste seems to come from catered events such as seminars. I am absolutely sure a lot of this could be redistributed." Labour MSP George Foulkes explained that the £40,000 figure is worrying and that he has already made a few suggestions to resolve the issue: "The MSP members' restaurant sometimes isn't used at all in the day, so people in charge need to be looking at ways to make it more attractive and more effective." He continued: "I made a few suggestions to improve the situation, including using the land outside as a lunch area and being more imaginative with the food." In addition, parliament chiefs said they are becoming more environmentally friendly by sending suitable food waste to be composted. A spokesman for WRAP Scotland supports these efforts: "It is good to see that leftover food produced by the parliament is now going to be turned into compost rather than going to landfill, but food waste is a big problem."