La Mode Verte
Environmental Awareness Through Media ProductionsArchive for Tesco
Victory for Tuna Campaign!
www.independent.co.uk 12th April 2011
In one of the most successful environmental campaigns in recent history, the way British supermarkets source their tuna has been radically overhauled. Morrisons is the last major UK supermarket to announce a ban on purse seining around fish-aggregating devices, or FADs, effective in 2013. The announcement, which brings Morrisons in line with the two other major British supermarkets Tesco and Asda targeted in a national campaign to bring an end to the practice. The drive to stop the use of FADs was largely led by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Greenpeace. Prior to their work, only Sainsburys, Marks and Spencers, and Waitrose sourced their tuna by the more sustainable pole and line method of fishing. FADs are floating islands that attract large shoals of tuna. They also attract other species though including other fish, sharks, dolphins, and turtles. Large fishing boats then scoop everything aboard using a purse net. All those species that are not tuna are then discarded overboard dead. This is called ‘by-catch’. The UK is the second biggest consumer of tuna after the USA.
UK Shops Reduce Their Waste by Half
www.guardian.co.uk 17th September 2010
A study by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has revealed that UK retailers have voluntarily reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill by around 50% since 2005. The report has also found that retailers have made an 18% reduction in CO2 emissions since the same date. Of particular note were Britain’s first zero-carbon store: a Tescos in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire which opened in 2009. John Lewis’ new Cardiff store also achieved recognition with 99% of production waste being recycled. However, the BRC has warned the government not to let its ‘localism agenda and nimbyism’ prevent ‘retailers from meeting national and European environmental targets’. Despite a major growth in sales, UK retailers have still managed to use 4.6 billion less plastic bags between 2006 and 2010. This is still a far cry from France though which has banned plastic bags from being freely distributed in supermarkets.
Supermarkets Reduce Glass in Wine Bottles
Sources: The National Geographic Summer Edition 2010
Supermarkets are experimenting with using lighter glass bottles for certain wines. The move is being promoted by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and has caused Tesco to launch ‘the lightest ever wine bottle’. Weighing in at 300g (the average is 500g) the bottle will reduce the company’s annual glass usage by 560 tonnes. Its usage is currently limited to Tesco’s own Australian Red Non-Vintage wines. Waitrose, too, released their own Virtue wines last year. The bottles consist of 60% recycled glass and are lighter than the average bottle. The wine is also shipped in bulk (currently from Chile) with all bottling taking place in the UK. There are certain hurdles that have to be overcome in the future though. Heavy bottles tend to be viewed as being more upmarket and prestigious. Furthermore, much of the wine sold in supermarkets is bottled outside of the UK and tightly controlled by local laws (such as the Appellation d’Origine Controlee).
