CSR - Tesco to divert 100% of waste away from landfill
Last updated 11/08/2009 10:12:49
Tesco CSR
In its latest bid towards being green, supermarket giant Tesco, Europe's biggest retailer, has announced plans to divert 100% of its UK waste away from landfill.
It is estimated that Tesco generates about 531,000 tons of waste every year, of which 146,000 tons would usually go to landfill.
But new technology means that the supermarket giant is now able to prevent 100% of its waste from going to landfill, and a year ahead of its original target.
It is doing this by using unsold meat to generate energy via a biomass power plant run by a waste management company. The waste from the meat is incinerated, heating the boilers that drive generator turbines.
Tesco is also now turning recycled carrier bags into refuse sacks and is committed to delivering and displaying products in reusable plastic trays, which saves an average of 20,000 tons of cardboard from being used.
Lucy Neville-Rolfe, executive director at Tesco, said: "Climate change is the biggest challenge facing us and a business such as Tesco has a responsibility to provide leadership."
Other major supermarkets are subsequently responding. J Sainsbury, have pledged that they will have no food waste going to landfill by the summer and not to have any waste go to landfill by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, Asda has pledged not to send any more waste to landfill by the end of 2010. The chain invested £27m in its first eco-store in Merseyside, which opened last year. It said the new store was able to divert 95% of its operational waste away from landfill.
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