The Scottish Government has pledged to cut food waste by a third and save £500 million by 2025.
Scotland will be the first part of Europe to make a food waste reduction target of this type, according to Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead.
It is part of a wider recycling strategy called Making Things Last, designed to encourage businesses and consumers to consider repairing and reusing their goods, and end Scotland's "throwaway culture".
Richard Lochhead, Environment Secretary
About £50 million worth of gold will be imported to Scotland in TV, mobile phones and computer components by the end of the decade but only a tiny fraction is expected to be recovered, Mr Lochhead said.
The Scottish Government will make the digital Edoc (Electronic Duty of Care) system of recording waste mandatory.
Edoc, which is currently a voluntary service, allows users to track the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of non-hazardous waste.
The Scottish Government's enterprise agencies will encourage firms to design products that can be remanufactured and to empower consumers to make repairs.
Mr Lochhead said: "The Scottish Food Waste Reduction Target is the first of its kind in Europe.
"Pledging to cut food waste by 33% by 2025 will put Scotland at the forefront of global action to tackle food waste and will put us on track to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goal of halving food waste by 2030.
"Household food waste in Scotland has decreased by an estimated 37,000 tonnes per year - 5.7% overall - since 2009, saving households across the country a staggering £92 million a year.
"That's a great start but I want to see more done, which is why I have set this target today."
Mr Lochhead announced the target during a visit to Edinburgh with EU environment commissioner Karmenu Vella.
Mr Vella said: "The commission also has ambitious plans for a more circular economy and we looking forward to working with Scotland to help 'Make Things Last' and turn a circular economy into a reality."
Making Things Last encourages "a better approach to producer responsibility" by ensuring that provision for dealing with products at the end of their lives is considered at the design stage.
Remanufacturing already contributes £1.1 billion and has the potential to grow by £620 million by 2020, it stated.
There are "considerable opportunities" in the reuse of equipment from wind turbines and decommissioned oil and gas platforms while construction accounts for around 50% of waste, it added.
Making Things Last stated: "We want more products to be designed for longer lifetimes, ready to be disassembled, repaired and eventually recycled, with more companies keeping hold of valuable products and components through leasing, servicing, repair and re-sale.
"Scotland's enterprise agencies will make circular economy approaches a new focus for their innovation support and Zero Waste Scotland will establish a new support service, working closely with the enterprise agencies, to help businesses adopt these approaches."
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