Green Shopping Is For Everyone

October 15th 2007

Choosing the green option has long been thought of as the preserve of the affluent – but a change is underway, according to new research from the National Consumer Council (NCC). They have put the top supermarkets to the test on the environment - and found that green issues are now mainstream.

Sainsbury’s now heads NCC’s annual league table alongside M&S and Waitrose – all were given a B rating. Asda and Tesco made progress over the past year – moving from a D to a C. Perhaps most significant of all in terms of long-term trends, Morrisons and Somerfield have improved their scores from an E to a D.

The best example of this is NCC’s green food product of the year – Asda’s ‘Smart Price’ value fish fingers. Made from sustainably sourced Pollock, these have prominent information about their Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification on the packaging. The same store also now offers Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified toilet paper as its main own-brand product.

Further signs of a shift in the market include Morrisons and Tesco selling energy efficient light bulbs at low prices, while Asda, the Co-op and Somerfield have greatly increased the proportion of in-season vegetables sourced from the UK.

Larry Whitty, Chair of the NCC, said: ‘The food we eat is responsible for one-third of our impact on climate change – so it’s vital that the big supermarkets make green shopping much easier.’

But the NCC warns that even the top performing supermarkets still have a long way to go to drive the green agenda consistently throughout their business.

NCC’s survey found that no retailer has yet risen to the challenge of being a truly green business, with even the top performers letting themselves down by failing to implement basic measures in-store. Not one supermarket got top marks for the proportion of UK in-season produce on sale, and NCC found wildly varying performance in terms of unnecessary packaging and plastic bags.

The cheapest energy-efficient lightbulbs in Sainsbury’s and the Co-op were both more than 20 times the price of the more traditional option. And one Waitrose store undermined the message about seasonal food with a display tracking the plum season right around the world.

‘But to really make a difference, we want to see supermarkets go much further than this by making energy-efficient lights much cheaper now and phasing out plastic bags completely.’

NCC is calling on the major supermarkets to:

• source and promote more UK seasonal fruit and vegetables;
• stock a wider range of low-cost energy-saving light bulbs;
• provide consumers with incentives to re-use carrier bags;
• use more recycled materials and FSC-certified content used in packaging and paper products, for example in toilet rolls;
• sell more fish from sustainable sources;
• set stricter targets for increasing the range of organic and other low chemical food options.

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