Conscious Consumption: play your part!
The transition towards a more circular economy, where we both use and waste less, requires everyone to play their part - from governments and industry, to local businesses and consumers.
Our #ConsciousConsumption campaign aims to raise awareness around how consumer choices can make a big difference in reducing the amount of resources that we use and waste through our daily habits.
Businesses have an important part to play, both in the choices they present to their customers, and in reducing waste -and cutting costs - within their own operations.
The Highland Community Waste Partnership is working to implement local solutions to some of the waste challenges we face.
Read on to learn how we can support your business to take action, cut costs, get ahead of upcoming legislation and make a difference in your community.
Reduce food waste
We can all agree that throwing food away is a waste. It is also a significant contributor to climate change. This is why the Scottish Government is aiming for a 33% reduction in the amount of food wasted by 2025.
More importantly, food waste costs your business - both in terms of the value of the food lost and the costs of disposal itself.
The good news is that a lot of food waste is preventable. And when scraps and food must be thrown away, we can reduce the impact and disposal costs, by turning it into valuable compost instead of sending it to landfill to rot.
10% of global climate emissions come from food that is lost or wasted.
1m tonnes of food is wasted annually in Scotland.
£215m is lost to Scottish hospitality businesses annually, because of wasted food.
Here's how the Highland Community Waste Partnership can help you to reduce the impact of food waste in your business:
The Highland Good Food Partnership has teamed up with Zero Waste Scotland to promote their food waste reduction toolkit with businesses in the Highlands.
This tool can help you measure and understand your food waste and make a plan to reduce it.
More and more businesses are turning to composting, to turn their food waste into a valuable resource instead of sending it to landfill.
The In-Vessel Composter Network, co-ordinated by Lochaber Environmental Group, brings businesses together to share learning, best practice, resources and support.
To learn more about how the Highland Community Waste Partnership is tackling food waste waste, visit our food waste web page.
Reduce single-use items and packaging
Our culture of consuming food and drink on-the-go has come to rely on a constant stream of disposable packaging. This generates tremendous amounts of waste and litter.
The best way to address this is to move towards a system where packaging that is reusable. In the meantime, we can also reduce the impact of single-use waste by improving how it's recycled.
These issues are central to upcoming regulatory measures that are likely to impact businesses, including a mandate to take back single-use cups for recycling and the implementation of a cup charge, to separate the cost of the cup from the cost of the product, and incentivise reuse.
Our Conscious Consumption packaging initiatives are designed to help businesses get ahead of these regulations, and reduce the amount of single-use items that you use and waste.
55% of sites in the Scotland are littered with food and drink packaging.
11 billion items of packaging are generated each year in the UK by our food and drink on-the-go habits.
77% of people in the Highlands are willing to change their consumption habits in order to reduce their environmental impact.
Here's how the Highland Community Waste Partnership can help you to reduce the impact of packaging waste in your business:
Our #ChooseToReuse campaign encourages consumers and businesses to play their part in reducing single-use items and packaging waste, by switching to reusable alternatives.
From small steps to bigger changes, learn what you can do to promote reuse in your business, and access free campaign resources to support you.
Also make sure you join the Refill app, to ensure Conscious Consumers can find you - our community Refill Schemes are here to help!
Did you know single-use cups need to be recycled separately?
We are working to trial cup recycling in the Highlands for the first time, in collarboation with the National Cup Recycling Scheme.
Join our pilot to try the Cup Box for free in your business, workplace or community. You will also get access to free campaign resources to help ensure the boxes are a success.
Returnable packaging schemes make it easier than ever for customers to #ChooseToReuse, by allowing them to access reusables at the point of sale, rather than having to bring their own.
We're offering Highland businesses the chance to trial a returnable food and drinks packaging scheme for free, buidling on learning from the Highland Cup Movement. We'll support you with setting up, operations and also provide campaign materials, to help engage your customers and ensure the intervention is a success.
