A campaign to reduce the amount of food waste Scotland generates each year has been launched by Environment Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead and leading nutritionist and TV presenter Nell Nelson.

Entitled Love Food Hate Waste, the nation-wide initiative - which has the backing of leading Scottish chefs including Nick Nairn, Andrew Fairlie and Martin Wishart - is based on pioneering research undertaken earlier this year by WRAP, the Waste and Resources Action Programme, - and was developed for Scotland by the Scottish Waste Awareness Group (SWAG) to encourage the Scottish public to be more waste aware in its attitude to food.

Focusing on four key areas - planning and preparation; storing food; recipe ideas and portioning - the centrepiece of the campaign is a consumer website www.wasteawarelovefood.org.uk which outlines the practical things people can do to avoid food waste, including advice from some of Scotland's tops chefs and food writers.

The website also features a recipe section to inspire meals from leftovers while the wider campaign is backed by four Love Food Hate Waste champions - members of the public who aim to share their practical hints and tips to help avoid food waste.

Each year Scotland throws away 650,000 tonnes of food waste (around £800m worth of food or an average of £366 per Scottish household) with over a third of the food Scottish households buy ending up in the bin. The Love Food Hate Waste campaign aims to raise awareness of the environmental and economic impact such food waste has, while also providing practical advice to householders about getting the most from the food they buy.

Launching the campaign in Edinburgh, Mr Lochhead said: "The figures on the amount of food Scottish households throw out each year are staggering.

"Food waste makes up nearly 20 per cent of the household bin - around half of this food waste could actually have been eaten.

"If we cut our food waste by half this could save around 1,456,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions - the equivalent of taking 1 in 4 cars off the road.

"Tackling food waste is a key part of action the Scottish Government is taking on waste prevention and in line with our ambition to achieve a zero waste Scotland.

Nell Nelson, food Writer, nutritionist and TV presenter of 'The Woman Who Ate Scotland' who helped launch the campaign with a cooking demonstration showing how to be more sustainable with food, added: "It's hard to believe we are throwing out so much food in Scotland, a lot of which is still perfectly edible. "I know most people don't like wasting food but they're often unsure what they can do to avoid it, so in that respect, the Love Food Hate Waste campaign is a fantastic idea which will help the public do its bit to deal with the problem.''

Commenting on the campaign and urging the public to get involved, SWAG campaign manager Dr Nicki Souter added: "The aim of this campaign is to get the Scottish public thinking more about the issue of food waste and ultimately doing something to limit the problem. Through our campaign website, we're offering a host of tips, hints and simple recipes to enable people to make the most of the food they buy and prepare and essentially start to do their bit to reduce the obscene amount of completely edible food Scotland is throwing away every year.''