WRAP announces Food Waste Action Week 2024

Objectives of Food Waste Action Week:

• The fourth annual FWAW will build on the success of this year’s campaign which involved 162 organisations in 12 countries.
• Focusing on the theme of  ‘Choose What You’ll Use,’ the 2024 campaign will focus on the benefits of buying loose fruit and vegetables, encouraging people to buy loose where they can.
• WRAP calls on key partners including governments, local authorities, manufacturers, brands and retailers, and the hospitality and food service sector to amplify its messages and reach as many people as possible.
• International partners from the Love Food Hate Waste Network will be involved to ensure the campaign has a global impact.
• WRAP will use digital, social, and PR channels to reach people across the UK and internationally, increasing awareness of how buying loose is a positive action that people can take.

How will the campaign help people reduce their food waste?

WRAP’s latest research shows that food waste costs a four-person household in the UK around £1,000 per year in food bought, but not eaten. Of the 6.4 million tonnes of food and drink thrown away at home during 2021, a huge 4.7 million tonnes could have been eaten.

If people are given the option to just choose what they’ll use when shopping for fruit and vegetables, i.e. buying fresh produce loose, they can select the exact number and size of items they wish – rather than buying too much. Items such as potatoes, carrots and apples are among the top 15 wasted food types in the UK, with potatoes topping the list for most wasted item.

WRAP wants people to have an alternative to that one kilo bag of potatoes when they only want a single baked potato!  

Often, shoppers don’t see the immediate benefits of choosing what they’ll use when in the supermarket. It’s not until food is wasted later down the line that the benefits (or drawbacks) become clear.

Catherine David, Director, Behaviour Change & Business Programmes at WRAP: “WRAP is thrilled to be launching our fourth annual Food Waste Action Week. We are calling on our partners at every stage of the food supply chain to liberate more fruit and veg from its packaging so that shoppers have the freedom to choose only what they will use. No one wants to see good food going to waste because they bought too much. We urge all our partners to get behind our campaign and help their customers waste less food by providing more options, and helping them buy only what they need. 

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