Grocery giants seek to reduce impact of products

The launch of the trials follows the publication of research today (March 12) entitled Initial assessment of the environmental impact of grocery products which looks at the waste, water, energy, emissions and resources use of grocery products throughout their life cycles.
It brings together life cycle data from over 150 published studies and identifies 50 priority products, such as potatoes, meat, and juices which offer significant opportunities for environmental improvement.

It was published by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) on behalf of the Product Sustainability Forum (PSF) a group of more than 80 organisations which aim to improve and communicate the environmental performance of products in the UK.

The Co-operative and Nestl will look at waste prevention and resource efficiency measures across potato, milk and chocolate supply chains while Sainsburys is focusing its efforts on meat, fish and poultry products. It is hoped more companies will launch similar projects in the future.

Stakeholders across the potato supply chain will be engaged by The Co-operative which hopes to identify and implement opportunities to prevent waste and improve resource efficiency. Meanwhile Nestl is working on a collaborative project with its principal milk supplier, First Milk.

The pilots have been welcomed by resource minister Lord de Mauley, who said: It is great to see major household names leading the way to cut out wasteful food practices in the UK. By simplifying the production of their goods, we know that businesses can save themselves billions of pounds while reducing their environmental impact. We hope this research will inspire other companies to take action to improve their efficiency.

Priority

Detailed findings and data sources can be found within the report which contains information on over 200 grocery products.

The top 50 product groups, where many of the biggest environmental savings could be made, have been identified, and include:

• Alcoholic drinks: cider and perry; lager; spirits; wine;
• Ambient: breakfast cereals; canned fish and seafood; canned meat products; canned vegetables, soups, pasta and noodles; cat food and dog food; chocolate; coffee; crisps (potato); processed snacks; rice; sugar confectionery; tea;
• Bakery: biscuits; bread and rolls; cakes, pastries and morning goods;
• Dairy: butter; cheese; milk and cream; yogurt;
• Fruit and vegetables: bananas; onions; potatoes; tomatoes
• Household: dishwashing products; general purpose and toilet cleaners; laundry detergents; toilet paper and kitchen rolls;
• Meat, fish, poultry and eggs: beef; deli food; eggs; fish and seafood; lamb; pork; poultry;
• Non-alcoholic drinks: carbonates; concentrates; juices
• Other chilled and frozen: frozen vegetables and potato products; ice cream and frozen desserts; margarine; pizza; pre-packed sandwiches; ready meals; and,
• Personal care: bath and shower products and shampoos; deodorants; nappies.

Objective

Discussing the research, WRAP chief executive Dr Liz Goodwin said: The main objective of this important research has been to establish which grocery products are likely to contribute the most to environment impacts associated with UK household consumption. By gaining a better understanding of the products that matter in the context of UK consumption, we can help businesses to prioritise their efforts to improve the environmental performance of their products in areas that will generate the biggest economic and environmental savings.

She added: The Product Sustainability Forum approach is to focus on solutions, and these pilots are the start of that process. By bringing all of the key players into the forum and sharing information they can collectively deliver more sustainable products whilst also identifying what will work best for their own sector or business.

The approach of tackling the environmental impacts of a product is also being used by WRAP to evaluate the electrical and home improvement markets. WRAP said the electrical report will be released in the coming months and the home improvement will be released later in 2013.