RIPE HERE, RIPE NOW! M&S INTRODUCES NEW 25p BANANA BUNDLES TO REDUCE WASTE

This week, M&S introduces a new banana waste reduction scheme to all stores across England. In a retail first, the scheme enables customers to take home a cardboard bag of extra ripe bananas at great value, minimising the amount of M&S food that goes unsold.

Each cleverly designed ‘Go Bananas’ bag contains a minimum of three ready to eat bananas for just 25p along with two delicious recipes for families to get baking at home, including vegan banana muffins and everybody’s favourite lockdown treat, banana bread.

The Go Bananas bag is being rolled out to all England stores across the country after a hugely successful trial period. M&S tested the bag at 10 stores and received a great response from local customers, selling a total of 6.8k banana bags, or 18k saved units of loose bananas that otherwise risked becoming food waste.

Pippa Masters, Fruit Buyer at M&S, commented:

“Bananas are among the most wasted produce at supermarkets as customers typically like to buy spotless yellow bananas to ripen at home, so we’re excited to be extending our Go Bananas bags to more M&S stores, and further reduce food waste by offering bananas that are absolutely perfect for baking – and at great value.

“Home baking has seen a huge rise over the last year, with banana bread becoming the ultimate zeitgeist bake and a favourite for families. Our Go Bananas bags are helping us to become more relevant, more often for customers who are looking to enjoy baking tasty and convenient food at home.”

M&S has committed to reducing its food waste by 50% before 2030. As well Go Bananas, other initiatives include a nationwide surplus food redistribution scheme in collaboration with award-winning platform Neighbourly, which connects all its stores with local food charities.