More potatoes, bananas and apples should be sold lose rather than come pre-packaged, according to the plastics charity, WRAP.

If these products were sold loose, they would reduce food waste as shoppers could purchase the amount they need.

WRAP stated that it would see 60,000 tonnes less food waste end up binned and more than 8800 tonnes of plastic saved per year.

It explained: “While most supermarkets sell some of these items loose already, the research shows a compelling case that this should be significantly increased, not just across these three products, but a wider range of fresh fruit and vegetables.

“Whilst the study focused on five commonly wasted items, there are many more products that are currently sometimes sold loose where the research could also be applied. This is not without its challenges.

“Supply chains have been optimised to sell fresh produce packaged and people have become accustomed to buying it that way. Solutions will need to be found to reconfigure supply chains and store operations, and to make it easy and convenient for people to buy loose produce.”

In addition, ‘Best Before’ dates also need to go, it said and WRAP wanted to see the removal of these dates from uncut, fresh produce. With most fresh produce having a date label applied, including the majority of potatoes and apples, there is significant scope to remove labels.

Currently, 8-11% of people mostly, or entirely use the date label for these five products, to choose whether to eat the item, or not, resulting in perfectly edible food being thrown away.

Removing date labels from apples, potatoes, bananas, cucumbers and broccoli alone could save 50,000 tonnes of food wasted in the home, every year, argued WRAP.