Waste Strategy for England 2007 - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Contents


Memorandum from The Co-operative Group (Waste 75)

INTRODUCTION

  1.1  The Co-operative Group is the UK's largest mutual retailer. It is the fifth largest food retailer, the third largest network of community pharmacy branches, the number one provider of funeral services and the largest independent travel business and one of the largest commercial farmers in the United Kingdom. It also has strong market positions in banking and insurance. The Group employs over 120,000 people, has three million members and around 4,900 retail outlets.

  1.2  The Co-operative Group's contribution to this inquiry is predominantly as a food retailer, but we are also committed to reducing waste on our farms.

    — The Co-operative Food is the largest independent convenience store operator in the UK. This year, The Co-operative Group announced its completion of the acquisition of the Somerfield supermarket chain. The combined food business now operates around 3,000 grocery stores throughout the UK with over 17 million customer visits each week.

    — The Co-operative Farms is the one of the largest commercial farmers in the UK, with over 10,000 hectares of land in ownership in England and Scotland and farming a further 20,000 hectares on behalf of our other landowners. The Co-operative Farms produces food that is sold in our food stores under the brand name "Grown by Us". Produce sold varies according to the season and location of the farms.

  1.3  The Co-operative Group welcomes the opportunity to provide evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee as part of its re-opened inquiry into the Waste Strategy for England 2007.

2.  GENERAL COMMENTS

  2.1  In 2007 The Co-operative Food launched its Food Ethical Policy consultation; this was a first for UK retail and the world's largest consumer poll on ethics. Over 100,000 of our member owners came forward to give their backing to a range of ethical commitments. The vast majority, some 97% of all respondents, agreed that we should seek to reduce waste. This provided clear indication that waste reduction is a key priority for our customers and members.

  2.2  The Co-operative Group's overall approach to waste management focuses on waste reduction (both internally and in terms of packaging passed on to customers), increasing reuse and recycling opportunities, improving the biodegradability of waste and the provision of finance for more sustainable waste management options.

  2.3  Better waste management is a very clear priority for our business. The Co-operative Group have been a signatory to the voluntary Courtauld Commitment since 2005. We are involved in discussions on the next phase of Courtauld and its proposed targets, Courtauld II, which will run from 2010 to 2012.

  2.4  The majority of the Group's waste outputs are associated with The Co-operative Food.

3.  ANNUAL FOOD WASTE LEVELS—ENGLAND AND WIDER UK

  3.1  As a family of businesses, we report total waste levels across all of our businesses (this includes packaging waste and operational waste). In 2008, we reported 78,973 tonnes of waste—this was a reduction on the previous year of approximately 5%. This occurred in spite of an increase in year-on-year sales of 15% and a fast-growing business.

  3.2  The Co-operative Group is a business that operates UK-wide. We have not, to date, disaggregated our waste levels into units as defined by devolved administrations. The environmental impact of waste is not confined to one nation or another, and whilst we welcome the waste reduction schemes of the devolved areas of the United Kingdom, we would caution against different regulatory schemes.

  3.3  Greater collaboration at all levels, including local Government, would instead ensure more coherence for businesses that are seeking to minimise their waste outputs. This approach will ensure that waste is dealt with more cost-effectively.

4.  AVOIDING WASTE

    —  Packaging is much reduced over the past two years—we have achieved a 22% reduction on our own-brand packaging, as verified by WRAP. We have our own Packaging Policy for own-brand food, which prioritises packaging reductions and governs acceptable packaging materials based on food safety and environmental concerns.

    —  We have cut waste to landfill to less than 50%. In 2008 we did landfill c31,500 tonnes, of which it is estimated that 13,000 tonnes was food waste.

    —  Principles are being developed in relation to promotions—the first choice for perishables is deep discounting not BOGOFs or TWOFFERS.

    —  We have reduced use of single-use carrier bags by 65% across our food retail estate compared with 2006.

    —  In 2009, we became the first food retailer to include storage instructions for fruit and vegetables on our bags for loose fresh produce to help tackle the problem of growing household waste.

    —  We have closely examined waste in our distribution system. This included stock issued to stores for reduced price sale (not on promotion) or written off at depot because it was near the end of life. This review has resulted in wastage levels being reduced by over 30%, albeit in terms of cash value, and in improved control on an ongoing basis.

5.  WHAT HAPPENS TO THE WASTE THAT WE GENERATE?

  5.1  In 2008, 51% of The Co-operative Group's waste outputs were recycled or reused—this includes back-of-store recycling of plastic and cardboard, recycling of waste cooking oil into biofuel, and closed-loop recycling of paper from our offices into bathroom tissue and kitchen towel. This was an increase on the previous three years.

6.  WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR FOOD WASTE?

  6.1  As mentioned above, in 2008, we sent to landfill approximately 13,000 tonnes of food. However, this is not the only route for food waste.

  6.2  We have investigated the use of alternative waste management technologies, such as in-vessel composting and anaerobic digestion for non-animal by-product food waste from The Co-operative Food.

  6.3  A trial has been carried out in the Nottingham area. This sought to evaluate the concept of backhauling food waste from stores to depot, where the waste is consolidated with a view to determining the volume of waste and whether anaerobic digestion was a viable proposition. The trial proved that money could be saved if this route of waste handling was adopted. We are also considering composting as a possible way to manage waste.

  6.4  The concept of backhauling waste from stores to depot is about to be tendered with technologies such as anaerobic digestion and composting being considered.

  6.5  Consumers have been identified as the largest sources of food waste in the United Kingdom. We therefore encourage customers to reduce food waste. As noted above, we are the only food retailer to include storage instructions for fruit and vegetables on our bags for loose fresh produce. In addition, throughout 2009, our regional membership teams have held food waste roadshow events across the United Kingdom to help tackle the growing problem of household food waste.

  6.6  Each event features a community chef, who cooks a selection of recipes using food items commonly thrown away, as well as giving tips on food planning and management. We also encourage staff to attend the events as well as customer members, so that they can advise customers in-store about food waste issues and minimise their own food waste at home.

  6.7  By the end of 2009, we will have held 40 events across the United Kingdom. So far we have held 28 events in England and Wales with an average of 100 attendees. Events in Scotland and Northern Ireland will commence in the first week of November 2009.

  6.8  WRAP Love Food, Hate Waste literature is available at all of the events, and WRAP representatives have attended some of the events.

7.  REJECTING PRODUCTS ON AESTHETIC GROUNDS?

  7.1  As one of the UK's largest commercial farmers, we are acutely aware of the importance of minimising waste in this way, and seek to make best use of everything we grow.

  7.2  The majority of Co-operative Brand produce is sold as either class I or II. Where no marketing standard exists we still work to the principles of the Defra classification system to ensure that the quality of product reflects what our customers want to buy.

  7.3  Produce sold under the Simply Value brand (which is our value range) is specified such that with the exception of progressive rots and moulds, less aesthetically pleasing examples can be packed. There are a total of nine lines including potatoes, peppers, apples and citrus.

8.  OUR POLICY ON GIVING AWAY FOOD WHICH IS PAST ITS SELL-BY DATE AND THEREFORE NOT ABLE TO BE SOLD TO CUSTOMERS?

  8.1  We are acutely aware of the importance of preventing food-borne illnesses. We have worked with the Food Standards Agency on a number of its awareness-raising campaigns in this area. Giving away food that is past its use by date is illegal and not something that we would sanction because of the obvious health risks.

  8.2  However, we have historically worked with the food redistribution charity, Fareshare, to distribute food still safe and legal for consumption but which, for various reasons, is not saleable in store.

  8.3  We have written to all suppliers advising them that they may use Fareshare as a route for the disposal of Co-operative Brand product.

9.  WORKING WITH SUPPLIERS?

  9.1  As noted above, we encourage suppliers to distribute unwanted food to Fareshare.

  9.2  In February 2007, we also staged a conference to communicate the Packaging Policy to 500 own-brand suppliers and subsequently announced a target to reduce own-brand primary packaging by 15% by 2010 based on 2006 levels.

  9.3  Some citrus fruit from Valencia will in future be delivered by train in temperature-controlled containers. This will create a faster distribution route for produce with less spoilage and a lower carbon footprint.

10.  WASTE ON OUR FARMS

  10.1  The farming business has a recycling centre covering a large area of Lincolnshire, taking in waste chemical and fertiliser packaging and cardboard. All farm agrochemical packaging on every farm is recycled.

11.  CUSTOMERS AND RECYCLED PACKAGING WASTE

  11.1  We do not have a central record of customer recycling facilities at our food stores, but we undertook a survey in 2006 of over 1,300 stores (approximately 40% of our current food retail estate) and found the following:

    —  102 stores had glass recycling facilities;

    —  79 had aluminium recycling facilities;

    —  35 had plastic recycling facilities; and

    —  87 had textile-recycling facilities—a proportion of which is provided by the Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development (TRAID). Through the use of TRAID facilities, customers have recycled 122 tonnes of unwanted clothing since 2005.

  11.2  Reverse vending systems are also being investigated for our stores.

12.  COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT—WASTE WORKS

  12.1  In September 2007, The Co-operative Group opened Waste Works, which is an education facility based at our Manchester recycling centre (at the head office complex). It promotes effective waste management, and raises awareness of wider environmental issues, such as climate change and the use of renewable energy at The Co-operative Group.

  12.2  The Waste Works facility is designed to be an exemplar of recycling in action. It has tables made from recycled plastic bottles and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) plywood. It is heated by a biomass boiler run on FSC wood pellets. The centre is managed by the environmental charity, Waste Watch, and offers a curriculum-linked education programme to Key Stage 2 pupils (aged seven to 11) and community groups. As of February 2009, there have been more than 7,000 visitors to Waste Works.

13.  CONCLUSION

  13.1  We know that there is a growing need from consumers for information about waste reduction measures, and aim to focus on education through both our food retail stores, membership teams and Waste Works facility. We have, as a business, long been committed to reducing our environmental impact, hence our own internal policies to reduce waste. This is an area of work that is both challenging and ongoing.






 
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