So, here we are in the second week of January and the countdown to Food Waste Action Week 2025 has begun.
Since 2021, Food Waste Action Week has been connecting businesses, government organisations and global partners to increase awareness amongst citizens about the devastating impact that food waste is having on the planet; we now have organisations taking part in 12 different countries.
This year, the UK’s biggest annual food waste reduction campaign will run from 17 – 23 March 2025; and our mission is simple - we want to get more and more people across the UK talking about why buying loose fruit and vegetables is better.
Why? Because we know that having the opportunity to buy loose fruit and vegetables means people can buy closer to what they need, and less food ends up in the bin.
During the week we’ll be demonstrating how ridiculous it is that we have to buy more food than we actually need, because of the way it is packaged.
WRAP research has shown that fresh fruit and vegetables make up the largest proportion of UK household food waste – every year we throw away 1.7 million tonnes of edible fresh fruit and vegetables from our homes, mainly because it hasn’t been used in time.
In the UK, most fruit and vegetables are sold packaged, meaning that people must buy a whole pack, regardless of the amount they will use.
Our research shows that selling items loose (unpackaged), so that people can buy just the amount they need, is an effective way to reduce household food waste.
“If all apples, bananas and potatoes were sold loose, 60,000 tonnes of food waste could be saved.”
WRAP has been leading voluntary action with grocery retailers and their suppliers to remove unnecessary packaging from fruits and vegetables for a couple of years now; and you’ve probably seen an increase in the variety of fruit and veg that you can buy loose. However, it’s a complex and challenging task and we recognise that policy interventions are required if we’re to accelerate progress in this area. Read our policy recommendation here.
But none of this will be enough if we don’t also inspire citizens and drive demand for buying loose. That’s why Food Waste Action Week 2025 will focus on getting more and more people talking about why buying loose fruit and veg is better.
The success of Food Waste Action Week is largely down to the amazing support we receive from our committed partners – local authorities, retailers, manufacturers, , governments and community organisations – all working together with us, with the aim of reducing household food waste. Last year we saw a fantastic response with 221 local authorities getting behind the campaign. This year we’d love to see you all getting involved.
Our Food Waste Action Week Partner Toolkit is coming soon, so please keep an eye on your inboxes and our website. It’s full of ideas and free assets to make it super easy to get involved. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Fully adopt Love Food Hate Waste’s campaign – take the campaign assets and materials available in the Toolkit and use them across your communications channels.
- Share our social media content on your personal and corporate social channels to increase the reach of the campaign.
- Engage your colleagues and networks – use your internal communications channels to share the campaign messages and assets.
You can also join us for a webinar on Tuesday 28 January 2025, from 2:45 – 3:30pm where we’ll talk you through the Toolkit, ideas and assets, and provide you with an opportunity to meet the Food Waste Action Week team and ask questions.
Register your place here: https://waste.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pRSgKFesSpmN8-OjHmkcQA
