Councillor Loic Rich, portfolio holder for environment and climate change on Cornwall Council, said it was great to see residents engaging with recycling food.
He said: "We're living on a planet that we've damaged with pollution and it's time now to take a bit more responsibility.
"It's just another thing we don't really want to be chucking away to get burnt in the incinerator when it can actually be reused and put to good use."
The council said its analysis of Cornwall's household waste found food accounted for 22% of black bag rubbish - and 43% of that was still in the packaging.
Rich said he hoped that figure would decrease if people understood the benefits of recycling food waste.
"I'm just saying to people, if you're not doing your food waste, have a think about all the benefits - it's worth it.
"At the moment, we're just over 50%. I'd like to get to 65% by 2029 but we can only do that if people in Cornwall help."
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