North London Waste Authority (NLWA) has pledged support for the “Choose Loose” campaign which calls for all UK supermarkets to abolish plastic packaging from the top five most wasted fruit and vegetable products in households.
The NLWA cites the most used household fruit and vegetable products as potatoes, apples, bananas, carrots and onions.
The campaign is run by the social enterprise Everyday Plastic, which carried out a study on behalf of NLWA that found over 46 million pieces of plastic are used each week by north Londoners.
The “Choose Loose” campaign argues that if retailers sell potatoes, apples, bananas, carrots and onions loose, 1.7 billion pieces of plastic packaging could be prevented from disposal.
But at the moment retailers are simply not moving quickly or urgently enough to play their part in tackling the Climate Emergency.
Cllr Clyde Loakes, NLWA Chair, commented: “Consumers have the power to influence supermarkets through their purchasing choices – just look at the introduction of ‘wonky veg’ as an example. But at the moment retailers are simply not moving quickly or urgently enough to play their part in tackling the Climate Emergency.
“NLWA has been asking government to change harmful packaging policy for years, including a call to implement Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and to stop postponing the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). There is no excuse for unnecessary plastic packaging anymore – sustainable packaging must become the norm without delay.”
Everyday Plastic has also set up a petition asking UK supermarkets to remove plastic packaging from their fruit and vegetable products. It currently has over 80,000 names and a target of 100,000.
