Fruit & veg accounts for half of the 2.5bn tonnes of food waste

Have you ever had to throw out a bag of sprouting potatoes or onions? Have your carrots, bananas or apples gone a bit bendy, over-ripe or wrinkly before you’ve got around to using them? 

Well, you’re not alone. These five fruits and vegetables are the most wasted fresh products in UK homes. 

It is through supermarkets that (current salad shortage saga aside) we have almost limitless access to food in the UK. Packaged fruit & veg is forcing us to buy too much, meaning we spend more money on food that we end up having to throw away. All this at a time when grocery inflation has hit record levels amidst a cost-of-living crisis in which over 2 million people are using food banks.

Last year, WRAP published a report which showed that packaged fruit & veg not only generates greater amounts of unnecessary plastic packaging waste but is complicit in increasing food waste too. 

On average, 29% of fresh fruit & veg purchased by households in the EU is wasted. Globally, we currently waste 2.5bn tonnes of food annually – almost half (46%) of which is thrown-out fruit & veg. 

Not only that, but food waste is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for up to 10% of the world's total emissions. When we throw food away, it rots and releases methane, a greenhouse gas with 80 times the warming power of CO2. 

However, there is a simple, proven and effective solution. Selling these five items loose could help to avoid more than 77,000 tonnes of food waste by allowing people to buy what they need. Think of all those extra roast potatoes we could save.

Our new campaign recently launched with a petition which now has over 49,000 signatures. Join us in calling for all UK supermarkets to remove plastic packaging from five fruits & veg products so shoppers can #ChooseLoose.