Britons routinely bin 1.4m edible bananas every day at a cost of £80m a year, figures reveal.
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. Official statistics show that the average UK family throws away £700 of food each year.
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.
Supermarkets have been criticised for not doing more to reduce food waste within their supply chains. Sainsbury’s is extending an in-store banana bread trial – which sees unsold fruits used by the in-store bakery teams – to 110 stores nationwide after trials in seven stores last year.
“While we’re pleased with the success of the in-store trial, we’re determined to help shoppers reduce the number of bananas going to waste at home too,” said Paul Crewe, the supermarket’s head of sustainability and environment. “Sixty one per cent of Britons admit they never use otherwise discarded bananas in baking, so we want to inspire customers to use their fruit in different ways. There’s no need to bin the bruised ones any more.”