BRC report highlights retail progress

The likely targets success was reported by the BRC when it published a report A Better Retailing Climate yesterday (January 31), which highlights the steps taken by the retail industry to be more resource efficient and reduce its environmental impact.

The report is based on the sustainability study launched by the BRC in 2008.

The report finds that retailers have significantly increased their efforts to divert waste from landfill, with 14% of waste going to landfill in 2011, compared with 45% in 2006 as well as praising a number of retailers who have committed to sending zero waste to landfill.

These include supermarket chain Tesco, which has sent no waste directly to landfill since 2009 and uses waste from its in-store bakeries to produce animal feed, and clothes retailer Next which has identified products that would previously been disposed of via landfill and offered them to charitable groups for reuse.

However, the BRC study is critical of Defras Waste Review launched in June 2011. It states: We were disappointed with the Waste Policy Review. This presented an opportunity to develop an integrated waste management programme but the final Review fell short of this vision. Instead, it focused on future consultation, reviews and the sharing of best practise.

Voluntary

Voluntary agreements to reduce food waste made under the first phase Courtauld Commitment have also been found to be on track, with 670,000 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill in the UK between 2005 and 2009. Since phase two was agreed a year ago, targets to reduce household food waste are ahead of schedule, with a 3% reduction over the last 12 months.

However the report does highlight that retailers still have some way to go to meet targets set out in phase two of the Courtauld Commitment to reduce product and packaging waste in the grocery supply chain by 5%, a year into the commitment a 0.4% reduction has been achieved. BRC states that funding for research is key to improvement: Government investment is important where current research is sparse and generic. Research must be disseminated to farmers, particularly those not in dedicated retail supply chains.

Secretary of state for the environment Caroline Spelman, speaking at the launch of the report in Westminster yesterday, said: The report provides clear evidence of what the retail community is doing to be more sustainable. Retailers understand that the customer is always right and that a lot of customers and a lot of them are hearing that consumers concerned about the environment, and many are responding to that.

Mrs Spelman added: The retail sector has a great influence over consumers, with this influence comes the responsibility to encourage resource efficiency and waste reduction through design, reuse and recycling. Consumers want to go green, what we need to do is make it easy for them to do that.