UK supermarkets fail to cut soft plastic and make loose produce the norm – it’s time to legislate

LONDON: UK supermarkets have made limited progress in reducing plastic packaging for fresh fruit and vegetables, despite much of it being unnecessary and a significant proportion being made from hard-to-recycle soft plastic.

And a new report by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), UK Supermarket Sale of Loose Unpackaged Produce – Trends, barriers and opportunities, reveals that transparency around loose produce sales has actually worsened since EIA’s last comparable supermarket benchmarking in 2021.

An estimated 13 billion pieces of fruit and vegetable packaging are thrown away by UK households every year, with almost two-thirds (63 per cent) made from soft plastic, a material for which there remains no meaningful recycling route at scale in the UK.

Many leading UK supermarkets have signed up to the UK Plastics Pact’s voluntary commitment to sell at least 30 per cent of uncut fresh produce loose by 2025, increasing to 50 per cent by 2030 – but most do not publish the numbers needed to demonstrate whether they have achieved it.

With the exception of Morrisons, which continues to state that about 30 per cent of its fresh produce is sold loose, progress under voluntary commitments cannot be independently verified. Most major retailers, including Tesco and Sainsbury’s, do not publish figures on unpackaged produce at all.

EIA Senior Ocean Campaigner Lauren Weir said: “Supermarkets are continuing to put huge quantities of unnecessary plastic onto the market, much of it in the form of soft plastic packaging that is extremely difficult to recycle.

“Our findings reveal that voluntary commitments have not delivered meaningful or accountable reductions in produce packaging, despite the evidence clearly showing that selling produce loose is already feasible. Stronger, binding measures are now needed to make loose produce the default and move supermarkets beyond incremental change in the face of the huge and growing global plastic pollution crisis.”

In the absence of reliable reporting, EIA reviewed supermarket sustainability disclosures from 2020-25 and conducted in-store spot-checks at nine major UK supermarkets in 2026.

The research found that loose produce options remain limited, inconsistently displayed and routinely overshadowed by packaged formats. In many cases, the same products were available both loose and packaged, but packaged options were more numerous or displayed prominently.

Crucially, the research also demonstrates that removing packaging is already possible. Every fresh produce category assessed by EIA was being sold loose in at least two of the supermarkets visited, demonstrating that many of the barriers to selling unpackaged produce can be overcome.

The findings build on the 2024 investigation by EIA and Everyday Plastic, The Hard Truth About Soft Plastic, which tracked soft plastic deposited at supermarket collection points and found the majority was subsequently incinerated or exported, while material that was recycled was not turned back into equivalent food packaging.

The findings are particularly timely following the UK Government’s decision to delay mandatory kerbside collection of plastic films and flexibles from 2027 until 2030. EIA says the delay further strengthens the case for measures to prevent unnecessary soft plastic waste at source, rather than relying on future improvements in collection to manage it.

“With kerbside collections of soft plastic now delayed until 2030, it makes even less sense to keep producing huge quantities of this difficult-to-recycle material where it simply isn’t needed,” added Weir.

“The new findings reinforce the need to prioritise preventing unnecessary soft plastic packaging in the first place, rather than relying on downstream collection and recycling systems to manage ever-growing quantities of waste.”

UK Supermarket Sale of Loose Unpackaged Produce recommends:

• introducing a UK ban on packaging – including plastic packaging – for whole, unprocessed fresh produce by 2030, with exemptions only where robust, unbiased scientific evidence demonstrates it is necessary for safety
• mandating transparent, standardised retailer reporting, including annual data on loose fresh produce sales
• requiring supermarkets to make loose produce the default where feasible, supported by appropriate weighing, pricing and reusable bag systems
• accelerating eco-modulated Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) fees to ensure hard-to-recycle soft plastic packaging incurs sufficiently high costs to deter its use
• phasing out hard-to-recycle soft plastics, including films and ultra-light produce bags.

CONTACTS FOR MEDIA

• Lauren Weir, EIA UK Senior Ocean Campaigner, via laurenweir[at]eia-international.org
• Paul Newman, EIA UK Senior Press & Communications Officer, via press[at]eia-international.org

EDITORS’ NOTES

1. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) investigates and campaigns against environmental crime and abuse. Our undercover investigations expose transnational wildlife crime, with a focus on elephants, pangolins and tigers, and forest crimes such as illegal logging and deforestation for cash crops such as palm oil. We work to avert climate catastrophe by investigating the criminal trade in refrigerant gases, strengthening and enforcing regional and international agreements that tackle fossil fuels and climate super-pollutants, including ozone-depleting substances, hydrofluorocarbons and methane, and advocating corporate and policy measures to promote sustainable cooling. We work to safeguard global marine ecosystems by addressing the threats posed by plastic pollution, bycatch and commercial exploitation of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Our findings are used in hard-hitting reports to campaign for new legislation, improved governance and more effective enforcement. Our field experience is used to provide guidance to enforcement agencies and we form partnerships with local groups and activists and support their work through hands-on training.
2. Read and download UK Supermarket Sale of Loose Unpackaged Produce – Trends, barriers and opportunities at https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-UK-Supermarket-Sale-of-Loose-Unpackaged-Produce-FINAL.pdf

Environmental Investigation Agency
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London N1 0NY
UK
www.eia-international.org
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7354 7960

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