Asda has responded to environment secretary David Miliband’s order for retailers to become more environment-friendly by stepping up its commitments to reduce food and packaging waste from its stores.
The supermarket chain pledged to stop sending to landfill any waste produced by its 307 stores by 2010, with all back-of-store waste being recycled, reused or composted.
In addition, Asda has committed to redesigning all of its own-brand products within 18 months, with the aim of reducing the weight and volume of packaging it produces by at least 10 per cent.
The chain has already launched this project in the produce aisles - by reducing the thickness of plastic used for its salad bags by 15 per cent.
Asda’s announcement follows a Defra meeting attended last week by officials from the top four UK retailers, including Justin King and Sir Ken Morrison.
Miliband reportedly demanded that supermarkets influence consumers in making “greener” shopping decisions.
He also ordered the retailers to meet targets for reducing carbon emissions and asked how they could include more in-season, local food.
Despite the timeliness of Asda’s announcement, a spokeman for the chain said it was not “a knee-jerk reaction” but the latest stage in an on-going commitment to reduce waste.
“This is something we have been working on for at least 18 months. We signed up to the Courtauld Commitment in 2005 and have been working with the government on its WRAP programme.
“We made this announcement because we are actually on target to achieve zero waste in advance of our initial forecast.”
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