Monday 14th August, 2006
FRUIT AND VEG DELIVERED DIRECT BY FARMERS TO ASDA STORES
Supermarket's Latest Bid To Cut Food Miles
In a bid to cut food miles even further, ASDA announced today (Monday 14th August) a group of farmers will start delivering their produce direct to its stores, rather than sending it via one of its distribution centres hundreds of miles away.
The trial in Cornwall is set to save 6,000 road miles a month but has the potential, if rolled out across the UK, to save a further three million road miles a year.
The latest pilot scheme follows a series of measures introduced by the supermarket to cut its carbon emissions, including switching to bio-diesel and moving more freight by train. ASDA has committed to reduce its carbon emissions by 80,000 tonnes a year by 20071.
Initially three farms will take part in the two month pilot scheme, supplying their local ASDA stores with strawberries, potatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, leeks and curly kale. All of the produce will be clearly labelled 'Produce of Cornwall'.
Each of the participating farmers will deliver their produce into one farm near Hayle in Cornwall, where the owner, local strawberry grower Neil Hosking, will then pack and transport it onto ASDA stores in Falmouth, St Austell, Bodmin and Plymouth.
At present, all of their produce is collected by lorry and transported to an ASDA depot in Bristol 140 miles away before it is driven back down the motorway to stores in Cornwall and Devon.
Chris Brown, ASDA's head of ethical and sustainable sourcing said: "We are committed to cutting the number of miles our food travels before it reaches our stores.
"Rather than send it up the motorway, our farmers in Cornwall will deliver it direct to their local stores. That way we can ensure our fruit and veg is as fresh as possible, and we'll minimise the impact on the environment."
Eighty ASDA stores across Britain already receive direct deliveries of locally produced strawberries during the British growing season. The scheme was first launched in Kent five years ago but has since been rolled out to Yorkshire, Scotland, West Midlands and the West Country and Cornwall. As a result sales of locally produced strawberries are up 48 per cent this year at ASDA.
This year locally grown plums are also being delivered direct to 22 ASDA stores in the Vale of Evesham and in Kent. The supermarket will also be selling locally produced Kentish cobnuts from the end of August in its stores in the region2.
The next local food range to launch at the supermarket it called 'Locally produced in Sussex'. From 15th September five ASDA stores across the region will start selling more than 60 local food products to their customers.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
ASDA’s environmental policies are in line with its parent company's strategy. Last October Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s CEO declared the long-term environmental goals for the company:· To be supplied 100% by renewable energy· To create zero waste· To sell products that sustain our resources and our environment· To help restore balance to climate systems· To reduce greenhouse gas emissions· To reduce dependence on oil. 1ASDA is a direct participant in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UKETS) and has committed to reducing carbon emissions by 80,000 tonnes by 2007 compared to a 2001 baseline. This commitment is at a time when its business is still growing. The supermarket is committed to cutting food miles by reducing its reliance on imports, extending British growing seasons and promoting local produce. The ASDA Train - ASDA has taken 4.5 million miles off the roads each year by moving more of its freight to rail. Teesport - a further 2.5 million road miles will be saved each year thanks to a new £20m Teesport depot which means it can ship 70% of ASDA’s non-food imports direct to the north rather than moving them by road from Felixstowe. Auto gearboxes - ASDA is currently operating 50 trucks (Scania 420 bhp) with automatic gearboxes from its Bedford distribution centre. It is seeing a fuel efficiency benefit of between 1%-2%. It has committed to trialling a further 25 auto units this year. If rolled out to its entire fleet it would save more than 1m litres of diesel every year. Double-deck trailers - ASDA has purchased a new fleet of double-deck trailers which will take out 2m road miles per year. ASDA milk partnership - ASDA has 550 dedicated Farmer Partners who supply it with all its fresh own label milk. All of the participating farms are located close to the dairies that process the milk. This ensures ASDA’s milk only comes from cattle that graze on nearby farms. The switch to using dedicated farmers has saved around 5m road miles a year. Lamb Link - ASDA’s Lamb Link scheme ensures lambs are collected direct from farms and farmers paid within 48 hours, saving time, hassle and money for farmers. The scheme has saved 1.4m road miles each year. Bio-diesel - Currently 60% of ASDA's distribution centres are operating on a 5% blend of 'bio-diesel'. The blend reduces particulates and carbon dioxide emissions and improves carbon monoxide levels. ASDA's plans to have all its sites running on bio-diesel by end of the year. Recycling centres - Last year ASDA opened four purpose-built recycling facilities at a cost of £32m in Lutterworth, Wakefield, Skelmersdale and Bedford enabling our fleet of delivery trucks to collect cardboard and plastic packaging from the back of stores. As a result, it recovered and recycled 140,000 metric tonnes of cardboard (8% of the UK cardboard market) and 5,500 metric tonnes of plastic packaging from store waste. Backhauling - ASDA's back of store waste is handled in the most efficient and environmentally responsible way. Lorries that deliver products to its stores backhaul excess waste like cardboard and plastic ensuring additional empty containers do not clog up the roads. Local sourcing - ASDA has eight regional food hubs around the country which give small fine food producers access to 12 million customers a week. The hubs enable local products to deliver their products to one central point, cutting food miles and reducing their costs. ASDA sells more than 1500 locally produced products across the UK, sourced from over 300 local small and micro suppliers. We already operate local sourcing programmes for potatoes in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and some regions of England (Cornwall, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire). The potatoes in our Pembroke Dock store are delivered within an hour of being packed, ensuring they are as fresh as possible. The initiatives above have reduced ASDA's annual road miles travelled by more than 16m a year (equivalent to 34 trips to the moon and back), and reduced its carbon emissions by more than 34,000 tons (N.B. this calculation excludes the Cornwall trial). 2A Kentish cobnut is a type of hazelnut, just as a Bramley is a type of apple. More cobnuts are grown in Kent than any other county, but there are commercial producers in several other counties Source: www.kentishcobnutsassociation.co.uk).
