What action it is taking to reduce the amount of food waste produced by schools.

The Scottish Government is acting on a number of fronts to tackle food waste in schools in line with our Zero Waste Plan approach of managing resources to support a low-carbon economy in which organisations, including schools, and businesses make efficient use of materials.
Our delivery programme, Zero Waste Scotland, has recently launched a voluntary agreement, targeting reductions in food and packaging waste from the hospitality and food service industries, including schools and their contract catering service providers. In addition, Zero Waste Scotland promotes the Love Food Hate Waste campaign through a network of regional partners and community organisations, helping to raise awareness of the issue of food waste, including frequent engagement in schools.
The Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 will, from January 2014, require schools involved in the processing, distribution or preparation of food to take all reasonable steps to ensure the separate collection of food waste, with the exception of schools in rural areas.
In 2011 the Scottish Government published new guidance on Catering for Change – Buying food sustainably in the public sector and Catering Services (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/01/12154555/0) to ensure that public bodies are guided to create contracts with the maximum opportunity for the public sector to transact with small and medium-sized enterprises and promote the achievement of sustainable development.
Sustainable development is an important theme in Curriculum for Excellence and nearly all schools in Scotland are taking part in the Eco-Schools Scotland programme which is supported by the Scottish Government. Local authorities and partners support schools working to minimise waste and a range of initiatives are taken to help schools reduce, re-use and recycle.
We are also taking forward our manifesto commitment to develop the concept of One Planet Schools which reinforces the importance of whole-school approaches to sustainability, including waste minimisation. Education Scotland has been working in partnership with the Sustainable Scotland Network, Eco Schools, WWF and other partner organisations to support Schools Global Footprinting initiatives in schools.