Shadow Minister for the Environment and Sustainability, Mick Bates AM, has welcomed the Consumer Focus research into the green practices of the nine largest food retailers in the U.K. which he hopes will name and shame the worst offenders into taking action to improve their green credentials.
The latest mystery shopping exercise by Consumer Focus has found that the gap between the best and worst performing supermarkets has got wider since the first survey in 2006. Sainsbury’s and M&S made the biggest leap by achieving the first ever overall “A” (excellent) score. They were followed by Waitrose, which retained a “B” grade. Other supermarkets such as Morrisons showed improvement over the course of the surveys; Tesco showed no progress since 2007 and Asda moved down the ratings.
Welsh Liberal Democrat AM Mick Bates said:
“This important research exposes which supermarkets are doing well and which need to take bigger steps to improve their green credentials. Sainsbury’s and M&S have done particularly well and I am impressed to see that M&S has consistently improved its practices since 2006, setting a good example to its competitors of how to become the ‘green giants’ of the supermarket world.”
Supermarkets were rated on a variety of topics, including the availability of seasonal UK fruit and vegetables, organics, fair trade products, and sustainable fish stocks, as well as their efforts in cutting down waste, encouraging people to re-use their carrier bags and stocking products with recycled products.
Mr Bates added: “There is no denying that supermarkets will continue to prosper but unfortunately there is always a price to pay and it is usually the producer and the environment that suffer. I hope the Consumer Focus research which has named and shamed the worst offenders will spur the supermarkets into action, to promote and sell more local and Fair Trade food and products, reduce packaging and recycle more, so that supermarkets play their part in reducing emissions and improving their green practices.”
Consumer Focus is calling on all supermarkets to respond to consumer pressure and make their sustainable policies visible in the store. If supermarkets are serious about sustainability, they should stock a high proportion of green products and signpost sustainable issues at all points of customer contact, whether in the store, their website or through their helpline to help customers make green choices.
