A third of consumers (30%) admit to discarding a banana if it has even a minor bruise or black mark on the skin. More than one in 10 (13%) also throw the fruit away if it shows any green on the skin.
The figures, from the government’s waste advisory body Wrap, are being published on Monday by supermarket Sainsbury’s to highlight the scale of avoidable food waste generated in the UK.
Through its £10m five-year Waste Less, Save More national initiative, the supermarket is offering practical tips and ideas to help customers reduce their food waste. Using official statistics showing that the average UK family throws away £700 of food each year, it set a target of getting households to slash this by 50%.
Sainsbury’s is launching hundreds of pop-up “banana rescue” stations in its stores to encourage consumers to use fruit that is overripe or past its best in baking, such as in banana bread and muffins. Damaged fruit can also be whizzed up in smoothies, chopped into fruit salads and dried as banana chips.
