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Wednesday 25th October, 2006
ASDA UNVEILS UK'S FIRST 'ZERO WASTE TO LANDFILL' SUPERMARKET

Dorset Store Set To Be First In UK To Recycle, Reuse Or Compost All Its Waste

ASDA announced today (Wednesday 25th October 2006) that its store in Canford Heath, Dorset is set be the first supermarket in the UK to recycle, reuse or compost all of its waste rather than send it to landfill.  

The ASDA store near Poole currently recycles around 20% of its general waste (mostly excess cardboard and plastic), with the rest going into landfill. Approximately 65% of all the general waste produced by ASDA stores could be composted each year - equivalent to 58,000 tonnes nationwide.  

Thanks to a partnership with New Earth Solutions, a recycling company based in nearby Wimborne, all the waste fruit and veg from the back of the ASDA store will be composted instead of sent to landfill. In the coming weeks the store's waste bakery products will also be sent for composting, followed by animal by-products in the coming months.  

In July this year ASDA committed to send nothing to landfill from any of its stores or depots by 2010. The supermarket has steadily reduced the amount of waste it produces each year from 140,000 tonnes in 2001 to 88,000 tonnes in 2005*, this is despite opening more than 70 extra supermarkets in the same time period.  

Simon Fern, environment manager at ASDA said: "Landfill sites in the UK are gradually running out of capacity, which means we need to find innovative and more environmentally friendly ways to dispose of our waste.

"By using specially designed composting units we're able to take all the waste food from the back of our store and turn it into good quality organic compost. As a result 150 tonnes of general waste will be diverted from local landfill sites each year." 

Ben Bradshaw, Minister for Local Environment Quality, said: "Reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill is an urgent priority and a vital part of the battle against climate change. We cannot expect consumers to get fully engaged with reducing their own waste unless producers and retailers demonstrate a clear commitment to the same principles.  

"I'd like to see more retailers setting ambitious targets of this kind and making that commitment publicly. The potential for having a positive influence which goes far beyond their own contribution is immense." 

Peter Mills, director of New Earth Solutions, the company that is helping ASDA compost waste from its store in Poole added: "We've spent a number of years developing recycling technologies that divert waste out of landfill sites and convert it into compost. We're delighted to be able to support ASDA's aim of reusing, recycling or composting all its store waste." 

David Lusher, commercial director with Veolia Environmental Services, ASDA's long standing waste management partner, said: "ASDA has a genuine desire to deliver sustainable solutions for dealing with its waste. This announcement moves it one step closer to achieving its aim of zero waste to landfill by 2010. We'd encourage other supermarkets to follow ASDA's lead."

ENDS

Notes for Editors

In January 2001 ASDA had 241 food stores in the UK. It now has 313. 

Last year ASDA opened four purpose-built recycling facilities at a cost of £32m in Lutterworth, Wakefield, Skelmersdale and Bedford enabling its 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.  

Hazardous wastes, including paint, batteries and fluorescent tubes are also segregated at the back of ASDA stores for collection. Even waste photographic chemicals are collected by ASDA to recover the precious metals contained in them such as silver. In addition, all of the products it sells (under the ASDA brand) will be redesigned over the next 18 months, with the aim of reducing the weight and volume of packaging it produces by at least ten per cent. 

In 2005, ASDA signed up to the ‘Courtauld Commitment’ and is now working in partnership with the Government's ‘Waste Resources Action Programme’ (WRAP) to achieve a shared objective of reducing household waste by the following measures:

  • Designing out excess packaging waste by the end of March 2008
  • Delivering absolute reductions in packaging weight by end of March 2010
  • Tackling the amount food consumers throw away by end of March 2010. 

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. Wal-Mart has set a four year target to reduce the carbon footprint for all its new stores across the globe by 30%, and a seven year target to reduce the carbon footprint of its entire chain of six thousand stores by 20%.  

ASDA has also entered into a Climate Change Levy (CCL) agreement with the Government and committed to reducing energy consumption in the most intensive areas of store operations by 10%. 

This year ASDA joined the roundtable on sustainable palm oil, and only stocks FSC certified wood e.g. garden furniture, charcoal, wooden picture frames. 

Within the next three to five years, ASDA will only stock wild-caught fresh and frozen fish from fisheries that meet the Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) independent environmental standard for sustainable and well-managed fisheries. The decision means dozens of products bearing the MSC’s distinctive blue eco-label will start appearing on the supermarket's shelves.



 

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