Food Waste Action Week urges us to buy loose fruit and veg to save food from the bin

Herefordshire Council is pleased to support Food Waste Action Week, running from 17 – 23 March 2025.

Food Waste Action Week is the flagship annual event delivered by the Waste and Resources Action Programme’s (WRAP) 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.

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.

Cllr Elissa Swinglehurst, Cabinet Member Environment, said: “The council has been a supporter of Love Food Hate Waste for a long time now, and this year we are again supporting the campaign. Considering your household’s needs when it comes to buying produce can save you money and reduce the amount of food wasted, which is a national concern.

“Also, purchasing food items with as little packaging involved helps to cut down on the waste we produce as a county, with the added bonus that loose items are more likely to be locally sourced, helping to reduce the carbon footprint of the food and boost our local farmers and producers.”

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.

Jackie Bailey, Senior Campaign Manager Love Food Hate Waste, said: “We know buying loose fruit and veg has the potential to significantly cut the amount of food ending up in the bin – now is the time for retailers and shoppers to make that a reality. Increasing loose fruit and veg offerings in store will not only reduce hard to recycle plastics, it will also enable shoppers to buy closer to their needs, slashing waste and stopping tens of thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions.”