Charity is highlighting unnecessary food waste ahead of Halloween

Scottish households bin 1.1 million pumpkins every Halloween, a new survey has found.

Research by Zero Waste Scotland discovered just 700,000 of the 1.8 million pumpkins carved every year are being eaten.

Four out of five (79%) of respondents to its survey said they were concerned about food waste but over half (61%) admitted they had never thought of their Halloween pumpkin as food.

Zero Waste Scotland has taken on the task of reducing pumpkin waste this year in a bid to reduce food waste.

Ylva Haglund, food waste campaigns manager for Zero Waste Scotland, said: "Halloween is now the second biggest party night after New Year's Eve in Scotland and as such it's important we don't just keep creating an ever-larger mountain of food waste.

"That's why, through our Love Food, Hate Waste campaign we want to inspire everyone about what they can do with their pumpkin carvings including making a delicious meal the whole family can enjoy."

Environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: "This seasonal campaign is a great example of how we can help people value food and avoid wasting it.

"We've set an ambitious target to reduce Scotland's food waste by 33% by 2025.

"By making people aware of the alternatives to throwing things away we are giving them the chance to make the right choices when it comes to food."

The charity will be attending Edinburgh Farmer's Market on Saturday and hosting a cooking demo showing consumers how to use pumpkin carvings and make pumpkin risotto.