'Unnecessary' single-use plastic packaging for fruit and veg 'should be banned'

Plastic packaging contributes to £2.1bn-worth of food waste in the UK every year (Image: PA)

The law in Wales should be changed so fruit and vegetables cannot be sold in plastic packaging, a Senedd member has said, saying they are "unnecessary" and poses risks to health.

Rhys ab Owen, who sits as an independent, brought forward a cross-party proposal to ban the use of "unnecessary" single-use plastic packaging for fruit and veg saying microplastics are found in human brains, blood and breastmilk. Instead he wants paper bags to be used.

Mr ab Owen told the Senedd: "Plastic packaging makes no difference whatsoever to the shelf life of over 20 fruits and vegetables… Simply put, plastic packaging, very often, is entirely wasteful, unnecessary and purposeless. We don’t need that packaging