Food Waste Action Week; buy loose fruit and veg to reduce food being thrown away

It’s Food Waste Action Week and one simple way consumers can reduce the amount of food they throw away is to buy loose fruit and veg

Once again Recycle Devon isupporting Love Food Hate Waste’s Food Waste Action Week, which runs until March 23 – it’s the the flagship annual event delivered by WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste. 

The campaign helps households develop the tools they need to cut food waste at home. This year, Food Waste Action Week will continue to focus on raising awareness of the benefits of buying loose fruit and veg. 

With food waste costing on average £1,000 for a household of four every year, Food Waste Action Week will help shoppers to save money and waste less food by shopping for loose produce. 

With 46 per cent of the potatoes we buy, going to waste, Recycle Devon will be supporting Devon’s residents to cut down on food waste and save money. Handy tips on how to create quick and easy recipes, how to make the best of leftovers and storage/reheating advice will be provided throughout the week. The free recipe book is available at recycledevon.org. 

WRAP’s research has identified the potential to reduce household food waste by removing the packaging on uncut fresh fruit and veg, enabling us to buy closer to our needs as well as the ‘bonus’ benefit of eliminating a significant amount of unnecessary packaging.  

WRAP recently called for a packaging ban on 21 fruit and veg items, to be developed via a formal consultation process. This recommendation has been created in consultation with industry stakeholders from across the supply chain. Selling these 21 items loose has the potential to save in the region of 100,000 tonnes of edible fruit and vegetables from being wasted annually in people’s homes as well as saving 13,000 tonnes of plastic film.  

WRAP has identified that, to drive action across the whole UK food system and help overcome the challenges faced by industry, policy change would create a level playing field and unlock action that is essential to enabling people to choose what they’ll use and buy more uncut fruit and veg loose.