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Friends of the Earth Scotland campaigned against excess packaging last weekend (28 & 29 June) by encouraging volunteers to dress up as giant wrapped pieces of fruit and vegetables while returning packaging to their local supermarkets.

In a bid to raise awareness of what Friends of the Earth views as an increasing concern, this weekend saw groups of men, women and children attending six events held at supermarkets in Falkirk, Edinburgh, Elgin, Glasgow and Dundee.

Campaigners sported a variety of costumes representing packaged produce – for example, one man wore a large cut-out yellow pepper, which was wrapped in plastic, while a mother dressed as what looked like a giant onion stood with her young daughter, who was dressed as a tomato.

The environmental pressure group claims that excess packaging adds to average household bills by £470 per year. However, supermarkets counter that packaging produces less food wastage and that packaging actually saves consumers money.

Rosiaina Browning from Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "A large proportion of packaging is unnecessary and much of it could be avoided if supermarkets sourced more produce from local suppliers."

She added that every day Scottish consumers throw away enough rubbish to fill Murrayfield rugby stadium and that despite levels of recycling increasing, the volumes of waste being produced is increasing by 1.5% each year.

However, speaking to the BBC on behalf of supermarkets, Richard Dodd of the Scottish Retail Consortium said: "What packaging does is it protects products from deterioration and from being damaged, so packaging is actually not adding to waste, it's reducing waste."