GREEN ROUND-UP

SUSTAINABILITY: ZERO WASTE

DOING GOOD IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS

RETAILERS, WHOLESALERS AND SUPPLIERS CONTINUE TO INVEST IN THE SUSTAINABILITY AGENDA.THE WEEK IN RETAIL BRINGS YOU SOME OF THE LATEST INITIATIVES FROM ACROSS THE INDUSTRY.

COMMUNITY STORE TARGETS ZERO WASTE

A family of experienced London local retailers are playing their part in sustainability and zero waste with the addition of a refill station in their newly fitted Nisa store in Edgware.

LA Foods, operated by the Hussain family, recently launched its 12th store in 3,000sq ft premises, converting a run-down vacant unit in the middle of a parade of shops. The family has installed a zero-waste refill station, a first for them and a concept that is also new to the people living locally.

Haroon Hussain said: “The store as a whole is a slow burner, and sales will grow steadily over time. We have a great range and are offering shoppers everything they need as well as a few new ideas for them to try.”

With a strong focus on fresh and chilled, the retailers decided the refill station complemented their offer and acts as a real point of difference.

The refill station currently offers foodstuffs including nuts, grains, seeds and cereal; shoppers have already been enquiring about other lines such as cleaning products.

“It seems to be a big hit and is certainly a talking point,” says Haroon. “It is perhaps a bit of an unusual concept for the type of demographic we’re serving but I think once our customers get used to the idea it will really take off.”

SCOTTISH WHOLESALE TARGETS NET-ZERO EMISSIONS

The Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA) has embarked on the first phase of an ambitious project designed to help members and the wider wholesale sector become greener and more sustainable, and ultimately decarbonise the wholesale food supply chain and achieve net-zero emissions by 2045, if not before.

As part of ongoing efforts towards mapping a plan to decarbonise the supply chain, the SWA will focus on distribution fleets – with a particular focus on Hydrogen Fuel Cell (HFC) and Electric Vehicle (EV) technologies – in this first phase of the Decarbonisation of the Wholesale Industry Project. The environmental impact of members’ cold storage facilities will also be researched ready for phase two which will look at energy and buildings.

The SWA has recruited a graduate from Strathclyde University for an initial 12-week placement to carry out the first phase of the project. Jessica Palmer will investigate areas of high pollution and energy consumption within the wholesale industry, with a particular focus on distribution fleets and cold storage facilities, identifying and recommending how these could be made more sustainable and environmentally efficient.

Colin Smith, SWA Chief Executive, said: “We’re hugely excited to be driving this vital project. Through our Decarbonisation of the Wholesale Industry Project, we have the opportunity to be the first organisation in the UK to investigate and implement the private commercial use of HFC technology and/or EV technology at a sector-wide level.

“As a result, the Scottish wholesale industry could become Scotland’s first ‘commercial testbed’, particularly for HFC. Carrying out this project on an industry scale will generate bigger benefits to our members than if they do it alone – not only in time and cost savings, as we are conducting the research on their behalf, but also in hopefully being able to attract funding.

“Jessica’s report will provide members with a reference tool which will enable them to make calculated investment decisions for the future decarbonisation of their businesses as well as contributing data towards the creation of a wholesale industry netzero transition plan for 2045.”

THERE’S A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR PLASTIC – BUT WE ALL MUST TAKE ACTION

Alpesh Mistry, Sales Director at Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I, says: “After two years of development, you may have spotted our new and redesigned Ribena bottle which is available to order across our core 500ml range now. Although Ribena’s bottles have been made from 100% recycled material (rPET) since 2007, the new design features a reduction in the plastic sleeve which eliminates 202 tonnes of plastic and creates a bottle that is fully bottle-to-bottle recyclable. In short, there is no reason that the Ribena bottles on your shelves can’t be made back into another bottle.

“Designed and tested to work within the current UK recycling infrastructure, the new bottle is a large step towards achieving SBF GB&I’s ambition to source all our bottles from 100% sustainable materials by 2030.

“Our ambition is a sustainable future for plastic. Plastic is versatile and lightweight, and it’s convenient for consumers and the retailers who sell products packaged in it. What’s more, the lifetime carbon emissions of recycled plastic beverage bottles are lower than those of glass or metal cans. As a society we have historically used plastic poorly, but we are confident that it’s possible to turn this around and move to a world where plastic is used responsibly.

“To do so, it is vital bottles are recycled and that the recycled material is then used to manufacture new bottles – a truly circular system with minimal waste. Businesses like ours need to invest and innovate to improve the recyclability of the plastic we use. We need to educate and encourage shoppers to recycle – our new Ribena bottles have a series of ‘recycle me’ prompts on the label, for instance.

“We believe plans to introduce deposit return schemes will help to significantly improve the situation. Right now, the Scottish Government plans to introduce a scheme in 2022, with England and Wales set to follow suit by 2024. In an ideal world, to maximise effectiveness governments need to work together to ensure their schemes align and can work with each other. Anything else is likely to lead to confusion from consumers and cause disruption to your business.

“Of course, beyond Government action, there is always more that companies can and should be doing to be more sustainable. We are working to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across our entire supply chain by 2050. We are also reducing the amount of plastic used in our supply chain, adding to the 2,947 tonnes of plastic we have already saved since 2015.

“Right now, it is essential that we all play our part in minimising the waste our society produces.”

PLADIS BINS BLACK PLASTIC

Pladis has unveiled a collection of new sustainability initiatives including the total removal of problematic-to-recycle black plastic from its product portfolio.

The new measures, which come just over two years since its commitment to the UK Plastics Pact, include:

The removal of all non-recyclable black plastic from the pladis UK&I on-shelf product portfolio by June 2021

The elimination of all PVDC film by June 2021

A continued commitment to prioritising the development of sustainable packaging solutions across bestselling lines, reducing CO2 emissions from transportation.

“As part of our commitment to the UK Plastics Pact, we’ve been working hard to transition our rigid plastic trays from black to recyclable cloudy rPET, which contain a minimum of 30% recycled content,” explains Sylvain Cuperlier, Head of Sustainability at pladis.

“We’re pleased to announce that the last black trays were produced in late December and we will complete this transition by the summer, after which there will be no more pladis-produced black plastic in the market. This will save 80 million plastic trays from landfill every year.”

The company has also increased the amount of ‘Recycle Ready’ monopolymer film used across the business - it now represents 64% of all packaging film – and has removed 35% of PVDC film, cited by the UK Plastics Pact as a ‘problematic plastic’, with the remaining 65% due to be eliminated by June 2021.

In addition, pladis has overhauled the packaging for many of its bestselling lines. “Shoppers will have noticed the changes we’ve been making as they purchased their favourite festive biscuits in the lead up to Christmas,” continues Cuperlier. “Last year we made some important adjustments to our bestselling McVitie’s Victoria assortment, including downsizing the card outer and incorporating a fullyrecyclable cloudy plastic tray.

“By swapping the traditional black tray for a recyclable alternative, we were able to save over 60 tonnes of plastic from landfill over the festive period. These changes reflect our commitment to tackling plastic waste in response to the British public’s justifiable concerns about packaging and sustainability.

“We’ve reduced height and board grade on outer packaging for our Jacob’s Mini Cheddars brand, meaning during transportation, we can fit more boxes on every truck. By removing trucks from the road, we’ve been able to reduce our CO2 emissions by 127 tonnes per year. Similarly, through making changes to the cases which package our McVitie’s Nibbles and Flipz products, we’ll be removing 84 tonnes of CO2 from our supply chain annually.

“We’ve also redesigned our Jacob’s caddies and our new, fully-recyclable caddies will be in store later this year.”