Archived press release

Sainsburys waste initiative welcomed

8 September 2006

Moves by Sainsbury, announced today (Friday), to cut plastic from its ready meals and organic food have been welcomed by Friends of the Earth, who called on other supermarkets to follow suit. But the environmental campaign group urged the supermarket chain to cut its waste even more, and said it must also urgently address the other negative impacts its activities have on the environment and farming communities.

Friends of the Earth's Resource Campaigner, Dr Michael Warhurst said:

"We are delighted that Sainsbury is cutting plastic waste from its ready meal and organic food ranges. We hope it goes further and phases out all non-recyclable packaging. But the supermarket chain must also take urgent action to reduce the impacts that its operations have on the environment and farming communities. Today's announcement is a step in the right direction, but it has a long way to go before it can be viewed as a green grocer."

"The Government must ensure that the goods that companies produce are either re-usable, recyclable or compostable. But instead the Government is intent on building more unnecessary, unpopular and polluting incinerators that rely on burning non-recyclable waste."

Although Friends of the Earth broadly welcomes Sainsbury's initiative, the environmental campaign group said that the supermarket chain must urgently address other social and environmental impacts: This must include:

• improve prices and treatment for farmers in the UK and overseas - low returns to farmers and suppliers makes it harder for them to meet higher environmental standards;
• reduce food miles which are still on the increase - a few token local food initiatives are not enough when the majority of supermarket food still clocks up hundreds of miles travelling via central distribution systems;
• stop building large stores out of town which encourage shoppers to drive and which damage community food shops and other local businesses.

Friends of the Earth also says that despite recent green moves by the major supermarkets, local shops and markets are often a better environmental option because they are more likely to source local produce and sell fresh produce without any unnecessary packaging.

Supermarkets and the environment

Around half of household waste arises from purchases made at supermarkets and convenience stores. A quarter of all rubbish put out by households is retail packaging.

Information from WRAP

According to estimates by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [DEFRA], transporting food to and around the UK produced 19 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2002 of which 10 million tones were emitted in the UK - 1.8 per cent of total UK carbon dioxide emissions.

The DEFRA report also says that the overall social and environmental cost of food transport is £9 billion with impacts on road congestion, accidents, climate change, noise and air pollution.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust