Wyre Council is thrilled to support Love Food Hate Waste’s Food Waste Action Week, running from 17 – 23 March 2025.
Food Waste Action Week is 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. 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.
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.”
Simon Bridge, Portfolio Holder for Street Scene, Parks and Open Spaces at Wyre Council, said:
“We’re proud to announce that from March 17 we’ll once again be joining in with Food Waste Action Week. Every year in the UK we throw away 1.7 million tonnes of fruit and veg but food isn’t rubbish! Research from Love Food Hate Waste has shown that if all apples, bananas and potatoes were sold loose, 8.2 million shopping baskets worth of food waste could be prevented every year. With the new Food Waste Collections service due to launch across Wyre next year in April, it is important for residents to start making smart choices around their shopping habits to try and reduce the amount of food going to waste.”