When it comes to making #Just1Change to help fight climate change, a big one can be deciding where to do your weekly shop.
As part of our ongoing climate series, we asked all the major supermarkets to look at their environmental practices and make changes where possible.
We also gave them questions from you, our readers, based on what you wanted to know about their plans for a cleaner future.
It’s our hope these vast companies recognise it’s ‘Time to Shelve’ certain practices which worsen plastic pollution, increase energy usage or contribute to food waste – and to bring forward positive schemes – many of which have already been trialled or promised in future.
Answers to these questions varied across the board, but here we’ll be looking specifically at three supermarket chains and how they compare: Asda, Morrisons and Co-op.
In their answers to us, the three stores all seem to be engaged in trying to turn things around.
The companies each have unique positions in the UK market. Asda, for example, was run by the American giant Walmart until February this year when it was acquired by the Issa brothers and private equity firm TDR Capital.
Meanwhile, Morrisons shareholders have just approved a £7 billion takeover by an American private equity firm called Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R). The chain is headquartered in Leeds and operates as the fourth largest supermarket chain in the UK, behind Asda in third.
Finally, Co-op is far more than just a supermarket chain. It also operates banks and pharmacies around the country and employs over 65,000 people. It’s run differently to a traditional business in that it has members that decide democratically how it should be run. Which may help explain why Co-op, while smaller than the others, seems to be one of the leaders in making its supermarkets more environmentally friendly.
Our Time to Shelve it campaign focuses on three key areas: plastic, energy and food waste and we found the three brands above were happy to discuss making improvements in each areas.
Time to Shelve: The 10 things you asked supermarkets to do
Replace plastic bags at till with paper ones
Remove all plastic packaging on fresh fruit and veg
Swap plastic milk bottles for glass
Stop selling multipacks in plastic shrinkwrap
Only use energy efficient light bulbs
Reduce usage outside of shop hours
Swap open refridgeration units for closed ones
Turn down the aircon
More options to buy food individually rather than multipacks
Reduce food waste
The problem with plastic
Eliminating our reliance on plastics isn’t new, but the urgency is increasing.
Which is why we wanted all the supermarkets we spoke with to take steps to remove plastic bags from their tills and swap to paper. We asked about exchanging plastic bottles for things like milk with glass alternatives. And lastly, whether to remove all the plastic packaging on fruit and vegetables. Small steps like these can add up to a vast difference if widely adopted.
All three supermarkets are taking action on plastic bags. Co-op is in the process of removing them, while Morrisons says it will do so by the end of Q1 2022.
Asda – whose bags for life are made from 100% recycled content excluding the handle and colourant – said that since 2019, it has seen a global reduction of 375m bags per year. Co-op suggested that the low-cost, reusable bag has become the new single-use carrier. Going further, Co-op explained it has rolled out compostable carriers to all stores to ensure that customers are able to purchase a low-cost, low impact alternative bag with a sustainable second use as a food waste caddy liner.
Similarly, all three are in the process of removing single-use plastic packaging from fruit and veg and aiming to switch to reusable plastic bags. There is a trade-off involved in this as packaging in some cases can help food last longer and therefore cut down on food waste.
The plastic bottle question becomes more contentious. While Morrisons said it had started the process of switching to glass in a couple of stores, the answer was a flat no from Asda and Co-op.
Both brands said that moving away from plastic may do more harm than good.
Co-op told us it felt that while a reusable glass system would reduce single use plastics and carbon footprint, switching to glass single use bottles would increase the carbon impact of the packaging considerably. While Asda told us milk plastic bottles are in fact very highly recycled and made with a high percentage of recycled content. This means that compared to the energy involved in making, moving and recycling glass, it’s far from certain that glass is a better option.
Nina Schrank, head of plastics for Greenpeace UK, told us what she thought about the efforts of the three supermarkets.
She said: ‘Morrisons have some interesting offers – glass milk bottles offered… as a collaboration with local farmers and suppliers, for example. Water fountains offered in stores and at petrol stations are also good progress.’
On Asda, Ms Schrank added: ‘We’d like to see a commitment to reduce plastic by 50%, and ambitious plans to extend and expand their progress on reuse and refill, particularly from their sustainability store in Leeds. We’d like to see these reuse and refill models rolled out across the country, so that 25% of their packaging is met by these systems.
‘The Co-op has a progressive position in many of its policies, and is a low user of plastic compared to other supermarkets. Its decision to get rid of all “bags for life” as well as single-use bags is largely positive, but we’d like to see it up the offering of loose fruit and vegetables as a way to eliminate as much plastic as possible.’
Flicking the switch on electricity consumption
As you’d expect with thousands of retail stores around the country, the electricity consumption of the supermarket chains is large.
Given the amount of greenhouse gas emissions tied to the production of electricity, reducing its use where possible is sensible, both environmentally and economically.
We asked all the supermarket brands to shelve energy practices like using loads of unnecessary air conditioning or a great deal of power outside of shop hours. Specifically, we asked them all to step up and switch to energy efficient light bulbs in all stores.
Asda, Morrisons and Co-op all confirmed that they will switch to energy efficient lighting and do what they can to limit power use while stores are closed. Morrisons pointed out that it doesn’t actually use air conditioning in its stores.
Again, we asked that open refrigeration units be switched to closed ones to limit the amount of electricity and all three agreed.
Co-op said it was phasing out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in its refrigeration units through a refit program that would see them all using natural refrigerants to keep stock cool. Additionally, the company uses doors on almost all of its units and employs computer software to control and monitor refrigeration to make it as efficient as possible.
Additionally, the company told Metro.co.uk that the electricity for all Co-op stores, funeral branches, depots and offices is 100% renewable and provided by its energy buying group.
Food waste at Asda, Morrisons and Co-op
No supermarket is immune from the problem of food wastage, but only Morrisons would go on the record to tell us how much food waste it produces each year: 14,366 tonnes. Both Asda and the Co-op refused to answer the question.
Co-op wouldn’t share its number, the chain did tell us it reports on its food waste annually in the sustainability report it has published since 2017.
We had a look through the report and found that, in 2017, it recorded 23,689 tonnes of waste. It hasn’t since reported the actual figure, but is making strides to lower its waste as much as possible.
‘Our food waste intensity (the % of products our stores handle that becomes food waste) is very slightly reduced in 2020 – food waste from stores is 1.15% of the product we move through stores compared to 1.29% in 2019,’ the report states.
Co-op continued: ‘In 2015 we set our baseline for food waste and started our journey to reduce food waste from stores and depots by 50% by 2030. Improving our data and how we measure food waste is part of the journey to meeting our 50% reduction target and in 2018 we started using product data instead of ‘weighbridge’ data from the waste disposal process because it is more accurate.
‘We can only access product data at store level at present but we are working to ensure we will have similar accurate depot food waste data available as soon as possible, this means we currently report on store data only and have done so since 2018 but we will aim to share our full operational food waste data including depots by 2022.’
In Asda’s case, it says it operates ‘a zero waste policy, which means reducing, reusing, recycling, redistributing, repurposing and recovering as much operational waste as possible and sending no waste to landfill’.
We also did some digging there and found Asda reported 31,367 tonnes of food waste in 2020 and published a breakdown of what it does with the waste. For example, 1,130 tonnes was given over to ‘commercial redistribution’, 2,491 tonnes were donated and 772 tonnes were turned into animal feed. You can find more information about it here.
All three brands have signed up to WRAP’s UK Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, an industry-wide programme that guides businesses to minimise food waste and sets a 50% reduction in food waste in the UK by 2030 target.
We put the supermarket’s answers on food waste to Feedback, a food and environment non-government association (NGO), to get a second opinion.
‘Morrisons have more opportunities to control food waste in their supply chain, due to owning several of their production sites and having direct relationships with farmers – so it’s a shame not to hear how they’re using these opportunities,’ said Jessica Sinclair Taylor, Head of Policy at Feedback.
‘Like other retailers who’ve decided to prioritise food waste in recent years, Co-op does a good job on reporting and they’re also working with suppliers to help them reduce waste in the supply chain, which is a huge and hidden food waste issue.’
She added: ‘(Asda) didn’t respond to an important question on nudging customers towards more sustainable choices, confirming that they’re not yet ready to face the full environmental impact of their business – despite meat and dairy sales likely representing nearly a third of their carbon footprint.’
Questions from readers
Our readers – you – wanted to know several things from the supermarkets about what they were doing to help the climate.
Things like considering reuse schemes and refill stations in stores or implementing a seasonal fruit and veg section and limiting the amount of meat and dairy in stock to try to encourage people to consume more sustainably.
Happily, all three supermarket chains responded to say they were in the process of trialling refuel and reuse stations in some stores. If more of us make a commitment to refill or return household items at supermarkets, we can push these trials into nationwide stores.
The answers weren’t as positive to questions about only stocking seasonal fruit and veg and nudging customers away from meat and dairy. Asda refused to answer either question and Morrisons said no to both. Instead, Morrisons explained it was committed to making the produce it does stock as sustainable as possible.
The company said it has, on average, 50 lines of fruit and vegetables per week on promotion and it gives ‘best in season’ and ‘locally supplied’ produce more prominent and additional shelf space.
Furthermore, it refuted the meat and dairy question by reminding us it has pledged to be the first supermarket to be completely supplied by ‘net zero’ carbon British farms by 2030, five years ahead of the market. Morrisons said that, over the next nine years, it will work with 3,000 farmers and growers to produce affordable net zero carbon meat, fruit and vegetables. It’s a great target and we hope the company meets it – but it is unclear how heavily this will rely on ‘offsetting’.
While the Co-op declined to answer on the topic of seasonal fruit and veg, it seemed to be interested in guiding people away from meat and dairy. Earlier this summer it announced it would price match its GRO range (the company’s vegan brand) to meat-based equivalents in stores. By ending the price disparity of vegan food, it could encourage more shoppers to add plant-based meals to their diets.
Finally, our readers wanted to know whether the supermarkets would cut ties with suppliers that weren’t doing their bit to help the environment.
While Morrisons and Asda said no, Co-op said it would. The smallest supermarket of the three explained that if it couldn’t reach an agreement with a supplier over the environment, it would take the opportunity to look for new partners when the supply agreement came up for tender, giving reasonable notice.
Commenting on the overall efforts of the three supermarkets, Anna Jones, head of food and forests at Greenpeace UK said: ‘The Co-op looks to have the most ambitious target of all when it comes to tackling emissions from food production, promising its own products will be carbon neutral by 2025 with full net zero achieved by 2040.
‘Although it still doesn’t state how much offsetting this will entail and what plans it has to reduce meat and dairy overall. Price matching plant based with meat equivalents is a positive step and its willingness to look for new suppliers should they not reach acceptable standards is encouraging too.’
She added: ‘Asda and Morrisons are lagging behind though, with no response whatsoever on meat, dairy or supply chains from Asda and little detail from Morrisons on how it will achieve net zero meat supplies by 2030.’
Do you think these three British supermarket chains are doing enough to help fight climate change? Let us know in the comments below.
If you’re going to make #Just1Change to help fix the global climate crisis, it could start with changing which supermarket you spend your money in.
Time to Shelve: What the supermarkets need to do now
As part of Time to Shelve, Metro.co.uk is asking all nine supermarkets to pledge to continue shelving any bad practices that impact our fight against climate change. We also ask that they take our readers – their customers – comments seriously and work harder towards finding ways to make shopping a greener experience.
This includes:
- Cutting ties with suppliers who refuse to do more to help the environment
- Finding ways to reduce meat and dairy consumption
- Work harder to reduce food waste
- Lose all plastic packaging from fresh fruit and veg – or offer plastic-free alternatives
- Removing plastic shrinkwrap and other unnecessary packaging from all products
- Promoting seasonal fruit and veg sales
- Bringing forward future environmental targets – including large-scale reuse and/or refill initiatives
How did your favourite supermarket do?
To find out how other stores got on, click here for the results:
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE : Who is attending COP26?
MORE : ‘Why world must act’: Voices of young people to sound at COP26
from News – Metro https://ift.tt/3jAvdcS
0 Comments