Tesco sends no waste to landfill

As of July 2009, a large supermarket chain in the UK has begun a major environmental program one year ahead of their expected schedule. Tesco has begun diverting 100% of the waste produced by all of it’s UK operations away from landfill.

“Climate change is the biggest challenge facing us today and businesses such as Tesco have a responsibility to provide leadership,” Tesco Executive Director Lucy Neville-Rolfe said. “As well as research and development, improving our own operations and helping customers to make easy, green choices are the best way to combat climate change.”

There are more than 2315 sites across the UK using innovative methods to produce this significant result. These methods include;

• Re-using waste meat to generate fuel through a third-party plant which goes back into the national grid as electricity – at present, 5,000 tonnes of waste meat generate c. 2,500 mega watt hours of renewable electricity.

• Turning recycled carrier bags into refuse bags
• Recycling used cardboard boxes to make new ones which are returned to store with new products within 14 days.

• Waste from the south east of England is transformed into Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) through a third-party plant.

This move by Tesco highlights the importance of Environmental Management to businesses, and provides an example to Australian food businesses to also implement and then achieve a 100% recycling policy.