| Teaser Text | Which brands are excelling when it comes to being seen as sustainable, and what difference does it really make? Elisabeth Jeffries finds out
A
fter Sainsburys replaced some of its own brand HDPE milk containers with LDPE milk bags in 2008, plastic recyclers muttered about the effect this could have on their industry. If the switch to pouches (accompanied by a free jug for home use) catches on, HDPE blow moulders might need to find some new customers.
The pouches have certainly attracted shoppers; figures published by the supermarket chain in April show that after a national roll-out, around 110 000 bags, which use 75 percent less packaging than standard plastic bottles, are being sold each week: “We’ve doubled our target,” stated Jack Cunningham, Sainsburys’ sustainability manager.
The move is an unusual one which will no doubt win the company points on the growing number of environmental performance league tables pressurising companies to change. One of these, the 2009 Ends Brand Emissions Leader report, ranks companies according to their efforts to cut carbon emissions and describes Sainsburys as a brand emissions leader – alongside others such as the Co-op Group, Tesco and Marks and Spencer (M&S). Nowadays, supermarket waste matters. Minimising it is, of course, one way to cut carbon emissions. |
