Scottish Government Food Waste Management Process: EIR release

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.


Information requested

1. An account of the means by which the Scottish Government measures its own food waste and has measured it over the last decade.

2. An account of the means by which the Scottish Government measures food waste in Scotland and has done so over the last decade.

3. Volume, value, and carbon footprint of the annual food waste by the Scottish Government from 2020 to present.

4. Volume, value, and carbon footprint of food waste in Scotland from 2020 to present.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Question 1

Please find below details of the Scottish Government’s Food Waste Management processes.

Food waste generated at out sites come from two primary sources:

1. Staff prepared meals – This includes waste generated by employees preparing their own meals.
2. Catering Facility – Waste generated from meals provided by our catering provider.

All food waste generated onsite is collected and disposed of by our appointed waste contractor.

To monitor and manage this, we receive the following monthly updates:

  • Food waste data from our catering provider, detailing the % of waste generated from their services.
  • Collection data from our waste contractor, which includes the weight (in Kilograms) of food waste collected during each uplift.

Question 2

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold any material in relation to your request. This is because the Scottish Government does not measure food waste in Scotland.

Therefore, this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.

Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document. Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

However, I have included some information below that you may find helpful.

Food waste in Scotland was estimated in 2021, in comparison to a baseline in 2013. This may help you by giving an indication of the trends in relation to food waste.

The estimate was reported by Zero Waste Scotland and the report is publicly available on their website, which can be found here: 2021 Scottish Food Waste Estimate

The means/methodology for this estimate can also be found in the public report linked above.

Question 3

I have included copies of the information you have requested below in Annex A.

However, please note that while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold some of the information in relation to your request. This refers to the ‘value’ part of your request. This is because the Scottish Government does not hold any information in relation to the financial value of the food waste it produces.

Therefore, this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.

Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document. Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

Question 4

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold any material in relation to your request. As advised in our response to Question 1, the Scottish Government does not measure food waste in Scotland, and the data you have requested is not available.

Therefore, this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.

Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document. Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

However you may find it helpful to note that the Zero Waste Scotland estimate report, referenced in our response to Question 1, provides figures for the carbon footprint from food waste in 2021 (and comparison in 2013).

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

EIR 202400445785 - Information released - Annex A

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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