Supermarkets improving but still have a way to go as more customers try to go green

A new report out today shows that consumers in all income brackets are looking to buy green, but while food retailers are getting better with regards to sustainability, there is still room to be done.

The National Consumer Council’s report finds that all retailers are improving, not just Sainsbury’s, M&S and Waitrose, traditionally seen as serving a higher-income bracket. Sainsbury’s got the best rating of all supermarkets in question, receiving a B, as did M&S and Waitrose.

Asda and Tesco improved their rankings from a D to a C. And in what the council calls “perhaps the most significant of all in terms of long-term trends,” Morrisons and Somerfield both gained higher marks this year, each earning a D rather than an E.

Some highlights:

-an Asda product, ‘Smart Price’ value fish fingers, which are sourced from a sustainable supply of pollack and display the Marine Stewardship Council certification. Pollack is recommended by the National Trust.

-another own-brand Asda product, toilet paper, dispaying the Forest Stewardship Council’s approval marking.

-Asda, Co-op and Somerfield selling more in-season, UK-sourced vegetables.

Despite these improvements from the bottom of the pile, the Council still voices some concerns, as not one retailer earned the A mark of a “truly green business.”

A few low points:

-No supermarket gained the top mark for UK-sourced, in-season produce.

-“Wildly varying” performance with regards to packaging and plastic bags was registered.

-Some stores contradicting their own green messages: for example, a Waitrose store advertised the plum season across the world, conflicting with its advertised policy of sourcing locally wherever possible.

The Council is calling on all major supermarkets to source more local produce, to stock more energy-saving lightbulbs, to implement carrier-bag incentive schemes, to sell more sustainable fish, and to use more recycled materials, and to set stricter targets for increasing organic ranges.

The Culinary Digest reckons that the National Consumer Council has pretty well hit the mark. Local, sustainable initiatives have filtered through society quite dramatically, with all consumers wanting to make a difference, so long as they can afford to. It is critical that these retailers look to change many of their policies as soon as possible.

One issue with packaging that The Culinary Digest has noticed, particularly in the case of Sainsbury’s, is the ‘Sorry, not yet recyclable’ mark on many plastic packages and cartons. Firstly, why are these not recyclable, when so many types of plastic are? Secondly, instead of spending money or time on printing fancy packaging, why are they not spending resources in this area? And finally, why are these types of packaging so common in the up-market ‘Taste the Difference’ range, when consumers are already paying a decided amount more for a top-quality product? Should not sustainability be an important part of this?

The NCC report Green Grocers is available here
The NCC report Greening Supermarkets: how supermarkets can make greening shpping easier (2006) can be found here