Wrap has called on the government to introduce a packaging ban on 21 uncut fresh produce items, in a bid to revive flagging plans to cut unnecessary plastic use in the category by half by 2030.
With just 19% of fresh produce sold in UK retail sold loose (compared with 50% in the EU), the environmental NGO today said new legislation would be required to reinforce voluntary targets laid out in the UK Plastics Pact, and via Wrap’s Pathway to Selling More Uncut Fruit & Veg Loose – which is targeting an increase of uncut fruit & veg to be sold loose to 50% by the end of the decade.
Rumours of a hardening in Wrap’s position and the call for an outright ban on fresh produce packaging have been brewing for almost a year, amid mounting concerns voluntary proposals to reduce plastic use in the fruit & veg aisle have been floundering.
The Grocer reported last November that an already watered-down target of selling 30% of products loose by 2025 looked unlikely. Some retailers sell just 2% of their produce loose, due to what Wrap head of business co-operation Helen Bird described as “technical and economic challenges”.
Research and industry consultation undertaken this year by Wrap, alongside think tank Policy Connect, identified the following items that would be required to be sold loose only, under its proposals: Apples, aubergines, avocados, bananas, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, garlic, ginger, lemons, limes, mangoes, onions, oranges, parsnips, pears, peppers, potatoes, squash, swede and salad tomatoes.
Selling these 21 items loose had the potential to save approximately 100,000 tonnes of edible fruit & vegetables from being wasted annually in people’s homes, as well as saving 13,000 tonnes of single-use plastic film, the charity said.
Some 30% of fresh vegetables and salad bought in the UK was thrown away – “often because we’ve picked up that plastic bag of potatoes, cannot eat them all in time and they go off”, said Wrap CEO Harriet Lamb.
Through its consultation work, industry had “repeatedly expressed to Wrap how important policy would be in this area to achieve the ambition of a fruit & veg aisle where produce is mostly sold without packaging”, the NGO added.
“To drive action across the whole UK food system and help overcome the challenges faced by industry by creating a level playing field, policy change will unlock action that is essential to enabling people to choose what they’ll use and buy more uncut fruit & veg loose,” it said.
Alongside action by government, Wrap is calling for a formal consultation and full economic assessment across the value chain, including continued and enhanced support for preparing shoppers for the changes.
Introducing a ban on plastic packaging across the 21 items would prove popular, argued Lamb, citing research by the charity that showed 64% of shoppers preferred to buy loose fruit & veg.
“Such changes always look tough at first but then quickly become the norm,” she added.
“For example, when we changed the date labels on dairy from ‘use by’ to ‘best before’ – it seemed a big concern at first – but the industry got behind it at speed. And the likes of Arla and Morrisons ran with the idea and haven’t looked back, with others following suit since.”
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