A new report commissioned by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has found that UK retailers have cut the amount of waste that goes to landfill by 50 per cent in the last five years.
In fact, less than a quarter of the discarded food, packaging, bags and building materials produced by retailers is now sent to landfill compared with almost 50 per cent in 2005.
Retailers are increasingly reducing the amounts of packaging they are using in the first place and are recycling a lot more.
The report commended some of the leading examples of green retailing. John Lewis’s new Cardiff store recycled 99 per cent of all the waste produced in its construction. Tesco in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire was also highlighted – it is the world’s first zero-carbon store.
Stephen Robertson, BRC director general, said:
Retailers have a proud record of delivering impressive environmental results on a voluntary basis – without the need for legislation. This includes helping their customers use 4.6bn fewer single-use carrier bags between 2006 and 2010, despite a major growth in sales.