Marks & Spencer has launched a new trial to sell fruit and vegetables completely free of plastic packaging.

The grocer’s Tolworth store has removed plastic wrappers and ‘best before’ date labels from 90 lines of loose products.

Trained greengrocers will be on hand to offer customers advice regarding how best to preserve fresh produce and prevent food waste at home.

The range includes ‘hard’ fruit and vegetables like potatoes and bananas as well as more perishable items such as soft fruits and berries, which will be sold in compostable punnets.

The supermarket has also committed to launching more sustainable alternatives to plastic in all of its UK stores, which it believes could save 580 tonnes of plastic waste in the next two years.

Louise Nicholls, Head of Food Sustainability, said: “We’re proud to launch a series of market-leading initiatives to help our customers take home less plastic.

“We know our customers want to play their part in cutting out plastic, while as a business our goal is to become zero-waste by 2025. That’s why we’re working hard to reduce the amount of plastic packaging we use without compromising on food quality and contributing to waste.