ANTI-waste campaigners say that Scottish households will dump around 4,000 tons of usable food in the bin during the Easter break.

The Love Food Hate Waste campaign, run by Zero Waste Scotland, is calling on householders to cut down the amount of foodstuff being thrown away each day.

Food tends to be wasted because people either buy too much, cook more than they need or fail to store it correctly.

The Easter period can be an especially tricky time to manage food effectively, with children on school holidays, extra visitors and better weather prompting the first barbecues of the year, the organisation said.

The campaign has issued a list of tips to encourage households to make better use of their weekly supermarket shop and cut down the amount being thrown away.

These include better ways to store food, use leftovers and freshen up items nearing their sell-by date.

Love Food Hate Waste's Scottish spokesman Ylva Haglund said: "If you're planning get-togethers over the bank holiday weekend with family or friends, food inevitably plays a part in that, and so it's a good time to think about ways to make sure you're not wasting money and good food by being caught out by some of the common food waste pitfalls.

"Our key tips for avoiding food waste are to check your cupboards before a big shop to see what needs using up, plan your shop so you only buy what you need, measure portions so you don't cook too much, freeze leftovers for later or turn them into another great meal the next day."