#17

Buy loose fruit & veg

Single-use plastic packaging around fruit and vegetables is another area of unnecessary waste.

When shopping, choose loose fruit and veg instead and reduce your single-use footprint.

DoneChallenge others

What you can do right now:

  • Good

    Always choose the loose option when buying fruit and veg in the supermarket

    Take your own reusable bags to put the produce in, or keep it loose in the trolley.(Using a single-use paper bag doesn't solve the problem).

    If no plastic-free option exists, opt for the container that has the most reusable potential or reduce how often you buy.

    Tip: Local markets, shops, and grocers are often a better source of plastic free food.

  • Better

    Only choose loose fruit and veg

    Refuse any fruit or veg that comes in plastic, and find alternatives elsewhere. Usually the best way to avoid plastic is to buy fruit and veg that's in-season.

    Supermarkets are driven by customer behaviour: the more people buy loose fruit and veg, the more the supermarkets will stock.

  • Best

    Tell supermarkets and shops you don't want single-use packaging.

    Talking to the staff in your local shops about the issue can make a big difference.

    Contact your local shops however you can: email, social media, phone. The more people demand change, the more likely they are to listen.

Why is this important?

Around 150 Million tons of single-use plastic is produced every year— most of which ends up in landfill, or worse: our rivers and oceans.

The majority of fruit and veg packaging is simply used once and discarded, and in the vast majority of cases isn't necessary in the first place, especially not at the end of the supply chain between shop and consumer.

We simply can't recycle our way out of this. Refusing all single-use packaging, not just plastic, is necessary to reduce our impact on the world.