For some they are a collector's item, and for others they are just an annoyance when trying to eat an apple on the go, but now the time of the fruit and vegetable sticker is at an end as supermarkets vow to ditch them in a new plastics pledge.

All of Britain's major supermarkets, including Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Morrissons and Asda have signed up to waste charity Wrap's "Plastic Pledge", and are among 85 companies promising to get rid of a billion single-use plastic items by the end of 2020.

Retailers will no longer be using pointless plastic items including stickers on fruit and vegetables, and will be providing recycling plants for crisp packets, frozen food wrappers and bread bags.

These materials are incredibly difficult for consumers to recycle usually and account for 25 per cent of consumer plastic packaging, but only four per cent is recycled.

Plastic stickers on fruit and vegetables were there to let cashiers know what the product is and how much it costs. They also let consumers know whether the product is organic.

A spokesperson for Wrap said some supermarkets have already made the switch away from fruit stickers, adding; "Some have provided additional training to staff and introduced visual cue cards at the till.