A 12-year-old boy has been chosen as an ambassador to Cop26 after he came up with a brainwave for stopping food waste.
Lewis Howe would like to see leftovers and unused produce from school canteens converted into take-away meals.
They could then be handed out to local food banks and people in need, including the elderly.
Over the summer he emailed MSPs and every school in Scotland with his idea.
Aberdeenshire Council are now considering a proposal to pilot the scheme at his secondary, Mearns Academy in Laurencekirk.
Lewis has also launched a fundraising scheme to buy a fridge for the school, where the recycled food can be stored before being handed out to local people or collected in person.
If the pilot scheme is a success, he hopes schools across Scotland will adopt his idea.
Lewis was among six chosen from across the UK as ambassadors to Cop26 after a public vote. He’ll travel to Glasgow to explain his ideas to delegates.
Lewis, a member of the Laurencekirk Scout Group, came up with the food waste idea during a Scout project and to combat lockdown boredom.
Proud mum Julie said: “Lewis was working towards his World Challenge Award and had to do an environmental project.
“He realised a lot of food was thrown out by schools because it was close to its sell-by date or had been cooked but not served. He had the idea of recycling it in environmentally friendly packaging and giving it to food banks or the homeless.”
Lewis has already met his two local MSPs Marie Gougeon and Tess White.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: “If Scottish secondary schools step up to his challenge to reduce waste and use food
surpluses to create environmentally-friendly packaged meals for those in need, it will help us achieve our goal of making the UK Net Zero by 2050.”
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