From fruit bowl to fridge: A fresh produce intervention

Winning Moves conducted and delivered the evaluation report on WRAP’s food waste intervention designed to decrease the 1.6 million tonnes of fresh fruit, veg and salad that are wasted each year in UK homes. WRAP created kits to prompt people to store their produce in the best way and delivered them to more than over 4000 homes across the UK.

The kits contained fridge stickers, an A5 shopping list pad with helpful hints and tips, a tote bag with storage guidance woven into the design and an information leaflet. 

Storing fresh produce in the optimal way can help to extend its life, giving more time to use it before it spoils. Apples, for example, last almost 70 days longer in the fridge than when they are stored at room temperature. Yet, despite this, around half the UK population are unaware that storing apples in this way can extend their life (where are your apples resting right now?).

Winning Moves surveyed all recipients before and after the kits were delivered to see whether they made a difference. We found that 35% of people who received a kit improved their fruit and veg storage and these improvements were often driven by increased storage knowledge. We also discovered a knowledge-behaviour-gap, wherein some individuals knew the best storage practices but did not always act on them.

WRAP will be taking what they’ve learnt so far and sharing it with other businesses, enabling similar approaches to be scaled in the future. You can find the final report and learn more about the project on WRAP's website here.