The Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap, Banbury, UK; www.wrap.org.uk) is ramping up its efforts to roll back food waste by urging supermarkets to offer customers fresh produce “loose” to avoid excessive packaging and, crucially, mounting food waste.

As part of its campaign, Wrap is holding its fourth annual Food Waste Action week, from 4-10 March, focusing on what it says are the benefits of buying loose fruit and vegetables and “encouraging people to buy loose where they can”.

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Excess packaged fresh produce is often not used, says Wrap. Its latest research puts the cost of food that is bought but not eaten at around GBP 1,000 (EUR 1,153) per year for a four-person household in the UK. Of the 6.4 mn t of food and drink thrown away at home during 2021, 4.7 mn t could have been eaten.

Catherine David, Wrap’s director of behaviour change and business programmes, said, “If people are given the option to just choose what they’ll use when shopping for fruit and vegetables…they can select the exact number and size of items they wish, rather than buying too much.

“Items such as potatoes, carrots and apples are among the top 15 wasted food types in the UK, with potatoes topping the list for most wasted item.”