Council's plan to tackle £850,000-a-year school food waste

Highland Council has set out an action plan to improve its school meals - and stop £850,000-worth of food ending up in bins every year.

The local authority surveyed catering staff, pupils and parents on menu choices and the problem of waste.

The results suggested more than 70% of dining hall staff felt there was an issue with too much food being binned, including entire meals being thrown out untouched.

The local authority's action plan includes carrying out a "comprehensive" menu review, closer working with parents and exploring opportunities for "enhancing overall dining experience".

In a report, council officials said few of the survey's respondents were aware the cost of food waste to the local authority was up to £850,000 a year.

Other results from the survey included support for "simpler, more familiar" meals such as sausages, pasta, chicken goujons and sandwiches.

But there were also requests for less processed food and more fresh local ingredients.

The survey also received reports of school lunch-times being noisy, too short and pupils feeling rushed and unable to finish meals.

The action plan will be considered by councillors at a meeting next week.

Highland Council serves about 18,000 lunches per day in 173 primary schools and 29 secondary schools.

It says it uses meat from "assured sources" in Scotland and UK.

Eggs are free range from the Highlands, and an Inverness company supplies local fruit and vegetables.

In August, Highland Council said one of its secondary schools would trial the serving of lunch items in reusable containers to help it cut down on rubbish generated from school dinners.

Single-use packaging from Kingussie High School's canteen accounts for 9% of the rubbish generated at the 400-pupil school every year.

The council said the trial could potentially be the first of its kind in Scotland.

Snacks such as sandwiches, toasties and burgers are available at Highland schools as well as larger sit-down meals.