With food waste costing £1,000 for an average household of four every year1, Love Food Hate Waste releases parody video with Gino D’Acampo this Food Waste Action Week to help shoppers save money by shopping for loose produce.
- WRAP data reveals 60,000 tonnes of household food waste could be prevented every year if produce was sold loose and not packaged2 – the equivalent of over 8.2 million shopping baskets full, enough to fill 6,500 waste trucks.
UK households are encouraged to ‘choose what you’ll use’ and embrace buying loose fruit and veg to help tackle food waste.
To mark the fourth annual Food Waste Action Week, which launches on Monday (18th March), Love Food Hate Waste is encouraging people to embrace the mantra ‘choose what you’ll use’ to save money and cut food waste. And to get the nation showing some much-needed appreciation for ‘All the Single Veggies’, the campaign has partnered with Gino D’Acampo to show how loose fruit and veg can slash food waste – and save money at the same time.
Forget the single ladies, Love Food Hate Waste’s humorous parody celebrates the wonderful benefits of choosing loose fruit and veg over pre-packed produce. In the video, Gino shows that by opting for loose produce shoppers will not only avoid waste but can also choose exactly what they’ll use - be that a slightly green banana, just two carrots, the perfect baked potato for every member of the family or a single red apple.
The video launches during Food Waste Action Week as latest Love Food Hate Waste research reveals that UK households are wasting 4.7 million tonnes of edible food every year3. In total, shoppers waste £17 billion on food that ends up in the bin – the equivalent of £1,000 for a household of four. In fact, when it comes to the humble potato – the UK’s most wasted food item – every day in the UK we throw away nearly 3 million whole potatoes. If sold loose, we could reduce the potatoes we waste in our homes by at least 11%.
As shown in the video, simply choosing what we’ll use could:
- Save households money by avoiding costly wasted food.
- Save 60,000 tonnes of food waste (if all apples, potatoes and bananas were sold loose and not packaged).
- Reduce plastic packaging by 8,800 tonnes per year4.
- Combined, save more than 80,000 tonnes CO2e5.
Commenting on why single fruit and veggies are the ones for him, Gino said: “Finding out just how much food ends up in the bin really shocked me, so I’m joining Love Food Hate Waste to show some love to ‘All the Single Veggies’ this Food Waste Action Week. As a passionate chef, there’s nothing I love more than choosing the best produce for those I’m cooking for. Being able to pick out just what I need for each dish I make; it can’t be beaten. Saving food, saving money, and getting the best out of your cooking. What could be better?”
The focus on buying loose is part of a two-pronged approach to both increase public awareness of the benefits of buying loose and encourage more retailers to sell more fresh produce loose, ditching the packaging.
Jackie Bailey, Senior Campaign Manager Love Food Hate Waste, said: “This Food Waste Action Week we want to help people to choose what they’ll use and avoid costly waste. By releasing ‘All the Single Veggies’ with Gino, we’re showing people the many benefits of loose in terms of slashing food and plastic waste, saving families money, and dramatically reducing environmental impact. But right now, the options for loose are limited so, we need changes in the fresh produce aisle and shopper habits to really nail this problem.”
#FoodWasteActionWeek
Notes to Editor
Love Food Hate Waste
Launched in 2007, Love Food Hate Waste is an awareness-raising campaign communicating the environmental and economic impacts of food waste to UK citizens. It shows that through easy practical everyday actions in the home we can all waste less food, which will ultimately benefit the environment, and our pockets. Love Food Hate Waste exists to empower people to reduce food waste at home. Love Food Hate Waste is managed by WRAP.
WRAP
WRAP is a climate action NGO working around the globe to tackle the causes of the climate crisis and give the planet a sustainable future. Our vision is a thriving world in which climate change is no longer a problem. We believe that our natural resources should not be wasted and that everything we use should be re-used and recycled. We bring together and work with governments, businesses and individuals to ensure that the world’s natural resources are used more sustainably. Our core purpose is to help tackle climate change and protect our planet by changing the way things are produced, consumed and disposed of.
Data sources:
1 Source: https://wrap.org.uk/resources/report/household-food-and-drink-waste-united-kingdom-2021-22.
2 Source: WRAP_Reducing household food waste and plastic packaging_Summary. The equivalents were calculated by WRAP’s data team.
3 Source: https://wrap.org.uk/resources/report/household-food-and-drink-waste-united-kingdom-2021-22.
4 Source: WRAP_Reducing household food waste and plastic packaging_Summary.
5 Source: WRAP_Reducing household food waste and plastic packaging_Summary