Alan Knight, head of social responsibility at Kingfisher plc, which includes B&Q;, Comet and Woolworths, pledged to try and buy products made from more sustainable materials at Waste Watch's annual seminar yesterday (12/12/03). And he called on campaigners to come up with a list of clear demands to take to the Kingfisher board.
Mr Knight admitted: “Our job is to sell people products to improve their home and life and I can't yet imagine B&Q; going up to a customer saying, 'd;o you really want that? Put it back!'”. But he added: “We are doing things to limit the damage caused by economic growth. This affects the products we sell, how they're made, how they're sold and how they're used.”
He said the Kingfisher board was willing to hear suggestions about how to be more sustainable – for example by using products made from recycled materials and minimising excessive packaging – but only if campaigners recognised the business's concerns. “How we make this debate into a 20 minute presentation to the board of Kingfisher will be the magic we have got to work on over time,” he said.
Following discussions at the meeting, Waste Watch will now set up a working group on sustainable consumption. Delegates who volunteered to take part yesterday included Sue Duckworth of the London borough of Richmond upon Thames, Bob Lisney, Andrew Perkins of Aylesford Newsprint and Andrew Simmons of Recoup.
Attitudes
Mr Knight pointed out that retailers were good at introducing new ideas and changing people's attitudes – two hurdles that are common obstacles for environmentalists. He suggested an alliance with retailers could help communicate environmental messages to the public very strongly. “We change products all the time, so why not make them greener? We are good at changing products and have a gigantic influence over the supply chain,” he said.
Some delegates at the conference questioned whether a solution to sustainability could be found in discussion with a retailer. But Mr Knight warned that for a practical solution, retailers must be involved. “You want the supply chain to behave in a different way and customers to behave in a different way. We can do that through buying and sources… It would be much better if we can have some fun and actually have an intelligent debate,” he said.
Doreen Fedrigo of Waste Watch thanked Mr Knight for his speech and admitted: “Maybe we need to engage with people like you from industry who understand the figures and markets.”
Individual responsibility
Other delegates suggested the UK needed a whole change in culture away from excessive consumption and towards greater personal responsibility for spending. Bob Lisney, head of the Natural Resources Initiative at Hampshire county council said individual consumption was supported by a whole infrastructure. He suggested incentivising methods of sustainable consumption by means such as loyalty cards.
James Wilsdon, head of strategy at independent think tank Demos, said there were many lessons still to be learnt about communicating the right message to the public. He suggested the phrase 'sustainable development' could be off-putting for many people, and recommended the opinion-leaders with sway on sustainability matters should be identified and targeted.
Register for free to comment