Perth and Kinross Council is putting money back into the community after a successful zero waste challenge.
The council is awarding the money saved on disposal costs, approximately £110 per tonne, back to the community in Glenfarg and Kinross-shire.
During the six weeks of the Zero Waste Challenge, householders reduced their waste to landfill and increased their recycling by six and a half tonnes with the £715 saved given to the Broke Not Broken charity.
It runs a community food bank for the Kinross-shire and Glenfarg area, managed solely by volunteers, and is currently working with NHS Tayside Healthy Communities Project to fund the Kinross Recovery and Conversations Café.
During the Zero Waste Challenge, householders were invited to enter a competition, sharing their own delicious recipe which creatively uses up leftovers and is inspired by regional ingredients.
The winning recipes were from the Nicholls family and Pat Doran, who shared their recipes for beetroot coconut bites and Kheema with potatoes and peas.
The Nicholls family won a £50 voucher to spend on food at Sainsbury’s Kinross and Pat won £30 worth of vouchers for spending at Glenfarg Community Cinema, Hunters of Kinross and the Unorthodox Roasters cafe in Kinross.
A spokesperson said: “Congratulations to all householders who took part in the Glenfarg and Kinross-shire Zero Waste Challenge in April and May, to mark the end of a year of Sainsbury’s-funded ‘waste less, save more’ food waste reduction activities.”
Councillor Angus Forbes, convenor of the environment and infrastructure committee added: “The average Perth and Kinross household fills one third of their general waste bin with food waste – and most of that food is still edible.
“The Sainsbury’s-funded project has enabled PKC’s waste services to provide a year of activities in Kinross-shire and Glenfarg to help householders plan their food shopping, store food so that it lasts longer and find new recipes to use up ingredients so that they can save money on their food bills and help the council to send less waste to landfill – a cost which increases annually.
“I’m delighted that this year-long campaign has helped householders to adopt new habits which they can continue long-term and hope that householders will continue to share their hints and tips for reducing food waste with their friends, family and neighbours.”
All of the competition entries are being culminated in an online recipe book which will shortly be available on www.pkc.gov.uk/wastelesssavemore along with recipes from local businesses and organisations including Jenny Thomson of Courses for Cooks, Gill Sievwright of Weight Watchers Kinross, and Graeme Pallister of 63 Tay Street Restaurant, who all assisted with the Zero Waste Challenge workshops.
