Excessive packaging and Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the obligation of businesses to take account of economic, social and environmental impacts in the way they operate. The government consider CSR so important that they have assigned responsibility to a government minister, and set up a dedicated CSR website. We believe that the economic, social and environmental impacts of a single family generating 50kg of packaging a month warrant some attention from companies serious about CSR.

We surfed to nine of the UK's largest supermarkets to see what they are doing about excessive packaging in the name of CSR. We've ranked their packaging reduction progress and pledges, starting with the best, and ending with the weakest.

1. Waitrose are top of the class. They tell us they've already reduced packaging by weight both in absolute and relative terms, and that they will continue to do so. The figures are on the website. Well done, Waitrose!
2. Sainsbury's gain some credit for supplying a target: 5% reduction in packaging by 2010. What a shame that this target is "relative to turnover".
3. Asda will deliver "absolute reductions in packaging weight" by March 2010. It's a start!
4. Morrisons "are working to find innovative packaging solutions to eliminate or reduce the need for packaging". Are paper bags innovative enough, Morrisons?
5. Tesco, Britain's largest retailer, pledge to "support the principle of recovery, recycling and re-use". Aren't the green 3Rs usually given as reduce, recycle and re-use? On the plus side, Tesco are now "concentrating on other packaging reduction projects".
   
6. Marks and Spencer make a worrying start by emphasising the importance of packaging. There are no pledges, but according to their 2005 CSR report they aim to work "on packaging reduction initiatives."
   
7. Co-op Food and Somerfield both make much of biodegradable plastic bags and recycling, but make no pledges to reduce packaging.
8. Iceland have a rather sparse CSR page, which is limited to fish and whale protection. No mention of packaging here.

So congratulations to Waitrose for making progress, and to Sainsbury's and Asda for making pledges. A good beginning, but don't let complacency set in, there's a long way to go! As for the rest of the supermarkets: you must do better!

We shall go on visiting supermarkets to see what's happening to on the 'shop floor'. Remember, email the webmaster at totallywasted.org with your photos and stories of over-packaging.

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Flesh and bones

Selling a joint of meat is all about presentation. Hermetic seals prevent oxidation of the meat's surface, keeping it red and fresh-looking. Supermarkets know this, so they have created sealed clear plastic packages. To avoid exposing consumers to unsightly meat juices, absorbent white or black pads are placed beneath the meat to soak up any residue. We recently took a look at the meat shelves of a couple of supermarkets.

Here's a classically-presented joint of beef from Somerfield, complete with pastoral scene on the label. Why's there so much empty space in the pack? Perhaps it's alluding to all the space that the cows had to roam in whilst alive.

It seems that British pigs have space to roam, too. Look at these two leg steaks from the Co-op. Could they have squeezed into a smaller package? We think so!

Marks and Spencer have come up with another classic. If you're going to spend nine pounds on two steaks, you want your money's worth in packaging, and there's no skimping here. Each steak sits in it's individual compartment of a plastic insert, all within a larger plastic tray. Note that there are thick round absorbent pads below each steak, as well as another rectangular pad lining the larger tray. No juices are going to spoil the appearance of these two fillets!

What can we do with all this packaging once the meat's been cooked? Our local council will only recycle plastic in bottle form, and they certainly don't want meat-covered plastic trays. Yes, cardboard can be recycled, but who's going to recycle a pad of coated cardboard soaked in meat juice? We're quite sure that all of this packaging is destined for landfill.

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