Supermarkets Selling Green Credentials

An interesting story about how supermarkets are really hammering home their green credentials appeared on The Guardian's website this weekend.

Posh shoppers' favourite Waitrose already likes to go on about how ethical they are, and they've been joined in recent months by Asda (looking to save the equivalent energy consumption of 62 households in each of their stores), Tesco (investing £100 million of their record £2.2 billion profits in an 'environment fund') and Sainsbury's (looking to use compostable packaging for 500 of its 10,000 own-brand items).

As the article points out, much as these initiatives are welcome, these are but small steps on a very long journey.  The Guardian quotes Sandra Bell, the Friends of the Earth spokesperson, when she says, "If [the supermarkets] were really serious about sustainability they would have to address the huge amount of CO2 emissions generated by flying food in from all over the world, including food they could source much closer to home."

Let's be realistic, though.  Supermarkets aren't going to do anything out of the goodness of their hearts, so if you must shop at them - bearing in mind The Guardian tells us a greengrocer is hugely more energy efficient than a supermarket - it's important to keep up the idea of eating local and seasonal produce.  (For help with the latter, Eat The Seasons is an invaluable resource.)

Stores bid to win ethical shoppers