Donal Skehan: Getting kids involved in cooking helps them eat more of what's on the plate

Donal Skehan is as busy as ever with a new travel programme for US television, and a cookery book with an accompanying RTÉ series on the menu. He is also drumming up support for recycling in the kitchen

Donal Skehan, a Repak Team Green ambassador, drums up new habits, with all plastics now going in the recycling bin. Picture: Naoise Culhane

“When you cook all the time you’re very aware of what gets wasted,” says bestselling food writer and television presenter Donal Skehan. “All the bins are part of my process now, vegetable peels into compost, packaging into recycling.”

There’s been an upsurge of interest in recycling with the recent announcement that all plastic packaging, including soft plastics, can now be discarded in home recycling bins due to advancements in technology at Irish recycling facilities. A survey by industry-funded environmental organisation Repak notes that 64% of Irish people have become more eco-conscious since the emergence of Covid-19.