Monthly Archives: January 2014

Last year, Tesco, the largest grocer in the UK and third largest retailer in the world, reported that its stores produced almost 30,000 tonnes of food waste in the first half of 2013. A breakdown of their most wasted food is summarized below:

Source: Tesco

According to Tesco, a whopping 68% of their bagged salads go to waste. Nearly half of their baked goods and apples are never consumed. That’s a lot of food (and money) being poured down the drain.

Tesco has taken steps to reduce their environmental footprint, citing reducing food waste as one of their “Three Big Ambitions”. Their other two goals are improving health and creating opportunities.

Tesco has identified that food waste occurs mainly in agriculture and their supply chain, and from customers. Their plans to reduce food waste target both of these streams. For instance, Tesco no longer offers multi-buy promotions on their salads and sells them in re-sealable bags.  The company is working with banana suppliers to make the fruit last longer during transportation and revamping their ordering process to avoid overstocking. Any food waste they do produce is converted into energy or donated to food distribution charities.

To compare, Sainsbury’s, the second largest grocer in the UK, achieved its goal of “zero waste to landfill” last year. The food waste they produced was processed for animal feed, converted into energy, or distributed to charities.

While reducing the amount of waste going into landfills is great, Sainsbury’s does not seem to have made an effort to reduce the amount of waste they are producing in the first place. It’s like recycling plastic water bottles vs. switching to reusable bottles. I feel like Sainsbury’s is only addressing one side of the food waste issue, diverting waste from the landfills, whereas Tesco has targeted both sides, reducing the amount of waste and diverting what’s left.

As the 3rd largest retailer in the world, I think Tesco has a responsibility to tackle problems like these. Hopefully, it will push other grocers to take notice as well. It seems grocers in the UK are already doing so. The four largest UK grocers, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Morrisons, plus Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, and the Co-op have agreed to release information on the amount of food waste they produce beginning in 2015.

It will be interesting to see what next steps these companies take, and if other grocers outside of the UK will follow suit, if they haven’t already.

It is common for people to make resolutions at the beginning of each new year. This year, Telus started 2014 a little differently, with its 31 Day Sustainability Challenge. The campaign invites individuals to “consciously participate in one sustainable action for 31 days and then share it with [Telus] via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook using #31DaysOfGreen.” Individuals and organisations alike have joined in the conversation:

  Meanwhile, Telus posts its own daily tips on how to be sustainable:

Telus’ 31 Day Sustainability Challenge may simply give people some ideas on how to be more sustainable. It is difficult to say whether people will actually implement these ideas and stick with them long-term. In my experience, it takes a conscious effort to make changes, even small ones, in our everyday lives. A few tweets from a telecommunications company likely won’t be changing any life habits. However, I think conversations about sustainability are always valuable. Even just getting one person to switch to buying groceries locally or not eating meat on Mondays is still a step in the right direction. As with all social media campaigns, the more people it reaches, the more valuable it is.

On its own, #31DaysOfGreen is simply a catchy marketing campaign. It’s an opportunity for people to share tips on living sustainably, with the possibility of winning some prizes. However, coupled with Telus’ other sustainability commitments, like its various LEED-certified buildings and Team TELUS Cares program, the organisation is certainly taking a leading role in sustainability. Not to mention, Telus was included in the 2013 Global 100 Index, a sustainability index that rates publicly traded companies based on twelve key performance indicators, from energy use to employee turnover rates. No other North American telecommunications company made the cut. I’d say Telus is definitely on the right track and has set the standard for other organisations in the industry.

To read more about Telus’ commitment to sustainability and triple-bottom-line approach, check out their Corporate Social Responsibility Report here.