Not-for-profit organization WRAP has set a target of the amount sold loose to double to 30% by the end of 2025. The aim is to target 50% by the end of 2030. In 2021, the figure was 15%.
Catherine David, director of collaboration and change at WRAP: “No good food should go in the bin. We’re very excited to be working with the UK’s leading retailers to reduce the amount of food wasted in people’s homes and eliminate unnecessary single-use plastics by selling more fruit and veg loose.”
“People throw away £3.8 bln worth of edible fruit and veg each year – this is a cost neither we nor our planet can afford. The evidence is clear – now it’s time to take action. We look forward to consigning apples in plastic bags to the history books. And the pathway we are publishing shows how we will work with the retailers to help this happen.”
Paula Chin, senior policy adviser on consumption at WWF, said: “Eliminating unnecessary packaging from our food – for example, by selling whole fruit and veg loose, where it doesn’t increase food waste – is a key step to drive down the environmental impacts of our food system, but progress to date has been too slow.”
Source: packagingnews.co.uk