The food waste collection infrastructure is now very much in play in Scotland. I think that more than 80 per cent of households now have access to it, which was the plan. Rural parts of Scotland are exempt, so approximately 1.9 million people have access to a food waste scheme. Some schemes are only just bedding in, as Tony Boyle mentioned when he was talking about Glasgow.
Food waste collections are increasing and, as in any of the systems that are in play, work has to be done on participation rates. It is not just about rolling out a service or introducing a box, bin or caddy to householders; it is about getting them to use it regularly. I acknowledge that a lot more work has to be done on that.
Commercial food waste regulations have kicked in and, although I think that there is a lot more participation among larger businesses, there is probably still some work to be done on some of the smaller food premises on the high street. Rebecca Walker might want to talk about that.
Things are generally moving in the right direction, but as Robin Baird said, we still need to engage with people about food waste and the importance of the kitchen caddy. People generally want to do the right thing when they are given a suite of bins: they want to do the right thing for the environment and the local economy. There are also social opportunities for people; it is an engagement opportunity, and an issue of communication.
Food waste management is beginning to be accepted, which is a good thing. The issue of food waste is now on television, and there have been debates in Parliament on the issue and the challenges that it presents. Scotland has a target of 33 per cent—that is the real challenge.
We introduced the food waste caddy to households in Scotland but we are now trying to reduce its usage—not the participation rates but the amount of stuff that has been going into it since it was first introduced. That is unusual, because all the recycling systems that councils have introduced have tried to maximise the amount of material that people put in the caddies, and now councils are actively trying to reduce that.
That might be one of the challenges for the future. The amount of food waste that is coming to councils, even those that are working with Zero Waste Scotland, and the amount that comes out of households in the future might be less, because we are beginning to see a reduction in household and commercial food waste. That is good for individual businesses and the economy because they are making environmental savings and cost savings.
A lot of councils introduced a garden waste collection initially; they are not obliged to provide it, so some have decided to charge residents or to reduce its availability and provide increased capacity at civic amenity sites or household recycling centres. Progress in home composting has been encouraging. Those are solutions, but the optimum mix involves engaging with householders and communities on which solutions are best for their situations.