Sustainability

TREND WATCH: NEWS DIGEST

Regulator calls for further action on EV charging

THE COMPETITION AND MARKETS AUTHORITY IS CONCERNED ABOUT THE CHOICE AND AVAILABILITY OF CHARGEPOINTS AT MOTORWAY SERVICE STATIONS

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has set out measures to ensure a national network of electric vehicle chargepoints is in place ahead of the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

The CMA is concerned about the choice and availability of chargepoints at motorway service stations, the roll-out of on-street charging by local authorities is too slow, and rural areas risk being left behind with too few chargepoints due to lack of investment.

The CMA’s key recommendations are that:

- UK government sets out an ambitious National Strategy for rolling out EV charging between now and 2030. This must sit alongside strategies from the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland governments, building on the work already being undertaken by all governments. Energy regulators should also ensure that it’s quicker and cheaper to connect new chargepoints.

Q Governments support local authorities (LAs) to boost roll-out of on-street charging – including defining a clear role for LAs to manage the roll-out in their area and providing funding for the expertise needed for this to happen.

- UK government attaches conditions to its £950m Rapid Charging Fund, which it is planning to use for grid upgrades at motorway service stations, to open up competition so that drivers have a choice of charging provider at each service station.

Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: “There needs to be action now to address the postcode lottery in electric vehicle charging as we approach the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.

“Our recommendations will promote strong competition, encourage more investment, and build people’s trust, both now and in the future. The CMA has also opened a competition law investigation into EV charging along motorways and will continue to work with government and the industry to help ensure electric vehicle charging is a success.”

The CMA has also launched a competition law investigation into long-term exclusive arrangements between the Electric Highway – a ChargePoint provider – and three motorway service oper ators – MOTO, Roadchef and Extra. The regulator is concerned that these arrangements make it difficult for other operators to provide competing chargepoints at motorway service stations, resulting in drivers losing out on the benefits of competition.

Fully-recyclable sandwich packaging to be trialled in UK supermarkets

THE UK'S FIRST FULL RECYCLABLE SANDWICH PACKAGING IS BEING DEVELOPED WITH CO-OP AND SAINSBURY'S

Greencore Group, a UK manufacturer of convenience foods, is working with Co-op and Sainsbury’s to develop a fibre plastic-free recyclable sandwich skillet.

The packaging, developed in conjunction with ProAmpac and believed to be the first of its type in the world, will have a plastic-free window and be made entirely from paper-based material. packaged in the new skillet will have the same shelf life as if they were packaged in a traditional skillet due to the level of moisture resistance the skillet provides, sandwiches

Subject to successful trials, which commence in September 2021, and the proposition meeting all parties’ performance criteria, roll-out of the new packaging will begin later in the year. Greencore expects to make these new packaging techniques available to the wider UK market.

Andy Wright, Head of Sustainability at Greencore, said: “Consumers are increasingly aware not just of the importance of their own health but also of the impact their food has on the health of the planet. Developing a fully recyclable sandwich skillet is one of the key ways we can reduce waste and help our customers do their bit to protect the environment.

Breige Donaghy, director of delicious food at Co-op, added: “We’ve worked closely with Greencore from the start on the development of the compostable sandwich packaging and implemented the first trial of its use in our pop-up store at Glastonbury Festival in 2019 with great success.

“The trial aligns with Co-op’s ambition to reduce the use of virgin plastic and how we’ve also worked to ensure that all of our own-brand packaging is now fully recyclable. We’re looking forward to seeing the new packaging on shelves this autumn and are confident it will resonate with our members and customers.”

Plastic-free grocery store recognised

THE REFILLERY PLASTIC-FREE GROCERY STORE IN EDINBURGH HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR THE FOOD HERO SCOTLAND CAMPAIGN FOR ITS SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS

The Refillery, Edinburgh’s largest plastic-free grocery store, has been nominated for the Food Hero Scotland campaign.

The non-profit campaign, #FoodHeroScot, is supported by STV’s £1m Green Fund which aims to champion the efforts of sustainable Scottish SME businesses by raising their profile and communicating with consumers, while encouraging Scots to reduce their own carbon footprint.

The campaign will release 10 mini documentaries featuring businesses or social enterprises that will be shared on the #FoodHeroScot website and publicised through a media campaign delivered by STV, as part of their Green Fund commitment.

The 10 winning businesses that will receive more than £25,000 of in-kind support packages, including marketing and PR, to highlight their sustainability efforts.

The Refillery opened in Edinburgh in January 2019 with the aim of making plastic free and ethical shopping as accessible to as many people as possible.

The store has saved more than 500,000 pieces of plastic in just 30 months and any food that’s past its best goes in their free bin, Too Good To Go, or gets distributed among local charities. It also supports local suppliers and works with them to create plastic free produc supply systems.

The retailer launched a franchi October 2020 and launched its fi in Corstorphine in May 2021. Th have plans for a third store in Edi launched in September 2021.

Central England Co-op helps customers recycle film and soft plastics

Central England Co-op has launched a recycling scheme to help customers dispose of hard to recycle plastics.

Most of the retailer’s more than 240 stores, based across 16 counties, have a collection point that enables people to recycle film and soft plastics, which are currently not collected by all council services.

The collection points will enable people to deposit items such as crisp packets, sweet wrappers, plastic film, pet food pouches and plastic bags, which will then be back via Central England Co-op’s distr network and responsibly recycled.

Luke Olly, energy and enviro lead, said: “We have worked wit retail co-ops to provide a netw in-store collection points for film a plastics. Providing collection points ically for these types of plastics wil customers to easily recycle items currently not collected through services, while doing this in a co-operative manner means all the communities the co-op serves can benefit from this process, helping to provide a nationwide solution to this difficult problem.”

Ferrero unveils new sustainability goals

FERRERO HAS PUBLISHED ITS LATEST SUSTAINABILITY GOALS AND HAS ALSO BEGUN TO DEFINE NEW COMMITMENTS AND TARGETS TO FURTHER REDUCE ITS CARBON FOOTPRINT BY 2030

In its 2020 sustainability report, Ferrero outlined ambitious targets is to continue to significantly reduce the Group’s carbon footprint:

Ferrero will reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% globally by 2030, using 2018 as the base year.

The report reveals that Ferrero achieved its goal of sourcing 100% sustainable cocoa beans through independently managed schemes and 100% certified cane sugar through governance group Bonsucro and fair trade organisation Altromercato.

The company also bought 100% green electricity for its factories in Europe in fiscal year 2019/2020, and 71.5% of the electricity purchased globally was from renewable sources.

In 2019 Ferrero announced a commitment to make 100% of its packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025, as part of its support for the circular economy. As of 2020, we have achieved 82.9% and we continue with our strong commitment to fulfilling this journey,

Lapo Civiletti, chief executive of the Ferrero Group, said: “As we close out our 2020 goals, we are proud to have met our target to source 100% sustainable cocoa through independently managed standards. We have now extended the target to include outsourced chocolate to provide full transparency of our cocoa supply chain. We continued to source 100% RSPO certified segregated palm oil and we are developing a transition roadmap for the newly acquired Companies toward our responsible sourcing standards.”

‘Half of consumers’ buy on ecocredentials

More than half of consumers (52%) are making our purchasing decisions based on the eco-credentials of brands, new research reveals.

A survey of 2,000 UK adults by media agency Hearts & Science through YouGov shows that 21% of consumers have consciously stopped buying a particular brand or product because of concerns over its impact on the environment.

When it comes to the weekly shop, 36% of shoppers say they’ve no longer bought a food and drink brand due to its lack of eco-credentials, with 33% doing so for household essentials.

People are making an effort to be more ecofriendly in how they shop: 55% use their local high street to avoid transport emissions, and 9% now shop at zero-waste/refill stores.