Food waste activity for kids: save good food first

The best thing to do with food is eat it. This mission finds the food that needs eating soon, then puts only the bits nobody can eat in the food caddy.

Wee Bin the food caddy smiling beside a closed tub of carrot sticks and apple slices, with a small dish of peelings.

In Gullbrae: the bio plant

A table on the visitor terrace at the Gullbrae bio plant. A tin can and a glass jar stand right beside the green food caddy, with a dish of peelings and a closed tub of carrot sticks and apple slices. — The bio plant needs help. A can and a jar have ended up next to the food caddy, where they don’t belong, and the peelings are still waiting on a dish.

Do it together

Younger children (about 5 to 7)

With your grown-up, look in the fridge and the fruit bowl.
Find one food that needs eating soon, and put it at the front so everyone sees it.
Help choose when you’ll eat it: snack, lunch or tea.
If you have a food caddy, only the bits nobody can eat, like peel, go in it. Your grown-up empties it.

Older children (about 8 to 11)

Make a “use me first” list of the food that needs eating soon.
Plan one meal or snack that uses something from the list.
Help make it with your grown-up.
Afterwards, check: what went in the caddy? Was any of it food someone could have eaten?

For grown-ups: keep it safe

Check dates and storage yourself. Children shouldn’t judge whether food is still safe to eat by how it looks.
Your council decides what goes in the food caddy and whether you can use a liner, so check its own page.
A nearly empty caddy is the good result. It means the good food got eaten.

Source: Recycle Now: how to recycle food waste. Checked 20 October 2026.

When you’ve done it

We did it: put the bio plant right

The same table, put right. The can and the jar are on their own tray, away from the caddy, and the dish of peelings has gone. The tub of carrots and apple is still there to eat. — **Put right.** The peelings have gone into the caddy, the can and the jar are on their own tray for the recycling, and the carrots and apple are saved to eat.

Eddie, Priya, Buddy and Wee Bin waving together.

The crew say thank you. Now stick the bio plant on your town poster, and fill in a record sheet if you keep a learning log.

Nothing is saved when you press the button. Your progress lives on your poster.

Read the story

Wee Bin and the saved supperWee Bin expects a mountain of leftovers and gets a tiny supper instead.The wrapper questionFood scraps and packaging go different ways.Less left overMairi plans a day’s baking and works out how to have less left over.

Save good food first: the full guide

Draft, 20 October 2026. The words and pictures are waiting for an educator’s review and a fact check. Gullbrae is made up; your own council’s rules are the ones to follow.