what we’ve been up to…
2008
Group wins top CSR Award
The Co-operative Group beats Marks and Spencer and Tesco to win the top industry magazine, Retail Week's, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) award.
The Co-operative is Britain’s Greenest Grocer
Readers of The Times were asked to rank the main supermarket chains on a scale of one to five. The Co-operative Food came out top with a score of 3.49.
The Co-operative is named Green Retailer of the Year
The award, from top industry magazine The Grocer, is new this year and recognises environmental improvements and initiatives made by grocery retailers. Judges felt that The Co-operative Food had made the biggest effort to reduce its impact on the environment.
The Co-operative is Britain’s Greenest Supermarket
A You Gov online survey asks 1,132 respondents to ignore their other opinions about brands, companies and their products and think only about their attitudes towards the environment. The Co-operative Food comes top of the list.
The Co-operative receives Top Green Retailer Ranking
The Co-operative Food is ranked Britain's greenest retailer by researchers, Trucost - working on behalf of the BBC Money Programme. Researchers considered retailer carbon emissions and the volume of rubbish they were disposing of (rather than recycling).
Over 100,000 members have their say on The Co-operative Food Ethical Policy
The Co-operative Food Ethical Policy (www.co-operative.coop/food/ethics/) aims to maintain and strengthen the business' position as the UK’s leading responsible food retailer. It is based upon member consultation and customer feedback and has identified the ethical priorities of members. Each statement on the policy has the endorsement of over 90% of members and, as such, gave the business a clear mandate to launch the policy. Since the launch in February 2008, The Co-operative Food have switched all own-brand hot beverages to Fairtrade, banned the sale of eggs from caged hens, reduced the weight of glass bottles used for 26 different Co-operative wines (totalling 8.2 million bottles and saving a total of 450 tonnes of glass per year) and increased the number of pesticides prohibited for use in the production of own-brand products from 32 to 98.
‘Green Till System’ will support 772 tonnes of CO2 savings each year
New in-store technology is introduced to The Co-operative Food stores to enable tills, receipt printers, customer and operator screens, chip and pin devices and barcode scanners that are currently left on overnight, to be switched off automatically when stores close and to be powered up again the following morning before they reopen for business. These include 7,500 till units, 7,500 receipt printers, 15,000 customer and operator screens, 7,500 chip and pin devices and 7,500 barcode scanners. The Co-operative Group set itself a target of reducing energy use at all its premises by 25% by 2012.
2007
The Co-operative Group is the UK's Most Ethical Brand
A study on business ethics finds that consumers ranked The Co-operative Group as ‘the most ethical brand’ in the UK.
The Co-operative Group receives Queen's Award
The Group receive a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Sustainable Development Category, in acknowledgement of the comprehensive approach taken to its management of sustainability.
The Co-operative in top five in Green Brand List
A survey for Marketing Week ranks The Co-operative Group in the top five most environmentally friendly UK brands.
Group wins Environmental Leadership Award
At the Business Commitment to the Environment Awards, the Group is presented with the Peter Parker Award for environmental leadership, in recognition of its work towards dealing with climate change. The development of renewables at The Co-operative Financial Services (CFS), the rollout of green electricity across the Trading Group and the involvement of members in climate change campaigns were all singled out for recognition.
Flagship food store opened
A new flagship food store is opened in Manchester; the first in the UK to utilise solely carbon dioxide as a refrigerant in fridge and freezer cabinets (the store's air conditioning also utilises hydrocarbon refrigerants).
The Co-operative Food is the first supermarket to pull the plug on energy inefficient domestic kitchen appliances
White goods account for 40% of all domestic energy consumption in the UK. This year, The Co-operative Food announced that it would only offer white goods (e.g. fridge-freezers, washing machines and electric cookers) with an energy rating of ‘A’ or above (unless Energy Saving Trust recommended) for sale in shops. If other retailers followed this lead, it would result in CO2 emission savings of 1.6 million tonnes, the equivalent of removing almost 430,000 cars from UK roads.
The Co-operative launches the UK’s first Forest Stewardship Council-certified recycled toilet tissue and kitchen towel
These are produced, in part, through a pioneering “Closing the Loop” initiative. This involves collecting waste paper from The Co-operative Group’s head office complex in Manchester, which is also home to the UK’s largest in-house office waste recycling centre, opened by the Group in February 2007. Here, it is converted to recycled paper, which is used in the recycled own-brand bathroom tissue and kitchen towel sold in most of our The Co-operative Food stores. An electric-powered lorry is used to collect material from other businesses to be recycled. Paper from The Co-operative Group's head offices is segregated and then collected by the recycling centre, where it is graded, shredded and baled. The bales are then sent to a paper mill where they are recycled into own-brand bathroom and kitchen paper, which are sold in Co-operative Food stores. This is known as a closed loop system.
Market leading Pesticides Policy launched
The Co-operative Food launches a market-leading Pesticides Policy, which seeks to reduce the use of pesticides in all of its own-brand fresh and frozen produce. The Policy determines that the use of pesticides by growers should be considered only as a last resort, when the use of preventative measures (such as land choice, crop rotation and crop hygiene, and cultural and biological controls) have been fully explored with limited success. The new Pesticide Policy contains 24 banned, and 98 prohibited and 322, monitored pesticides.
‘Naked’ cucumbers save 8 tonnes of plastic waste each year
The Co-operative Food is the first major retailer in the UK to launch “naked” cucumbers. The cucumbers are packaged into boxes, thus saving unnecessary packaging while preserving shelf life and freshness. The Co-operative Food sells around 10 million cucumbers every year. By removing their shrink wrapping, around eight tonnes of plastic is saved every year. The whole cucumbers will now be delivered to stores in cardboard boxes that will be lined with long-life liners. These liners have been proven to reduce any negative impacts of removing the plastic wrap, such as possible moisture loss. The move to naked cucumbers does not impact on shelf-life.
2006
The Co-operative is the UK's Most Trusted Brand
Research commissioned by AccountAbility and the National Consumer Council finds that the Group is the most trusted business in the UK, with key differentiation in the areas of honesty, the environment and treatment of employees.
The Co-operative is the greenest supermarket
A survey of 2,000 shoppers conducted for The Grocer finds that consumers rank The Co-operative Food as the top supermarket for ‘being green’.
The Co-operative does most for the environment
The Environment Agency’s ‘Your Environment Vote 2006’ sees The Co-operative Food named as the high street retailer doing the most for the environment.
Own-Brand Packaging Policy launched
A Packaging Policy for Co-operative own-brand food products is launched, prioritising absolute packaging reductions and governing acceptable packaging materials based on food safety and environmental considerations.
Significant food packaging reductions achieved
The Co-operative Food progresses product packaging reduction with:
- the development of the UK’s first sub-300g 70cl spirits bottle, a 15% reduction in weight on the previous bottle;
- a reduction in the thickness of salad pack bags from 35 to 30 microns; and
- the transference of own-brand porridge oats from boxes to plastic bags
Packaging targets announced
The Co-operative Food announces a target to reduce own-brand primary packaging by 15% by 2010 based on 2006 levels. Priority areas for 2007 include:
- reducing the weight of wine, spirits and olive oil glass bottles;
- reducing the weight of plastic milk bottles;
- reducing the size of cereal boxes to a smaller pack format; and
- removing unnecessary packaging from fresh produce.
Reusable packaging crates introduced
The Co-operative Food re-introduces reusable fresh produce crates. It is estimated that these will be used for 5.2 million movements per annum.
Green stationery range launched
The Co-operative Food launches a 100% recycled and Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) mixed source paper stationery range, including envelopes, writing paper and notepads.
The Co-operative Food launches the world’s lightest 70cl whisky bottle
At just 298 grams compared to 350 grams, the bottle is the first commercially available 70cl bottle to break the 300 gram weight barrier. The bottle sets a new "best in class" standard for the sector and is being used for own-label Scotch whisky. The lightest 70cl spirit bottle available on the market won the Government’s WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) Sustainable Pack Award. The Co-operative Food will shortly be introducing light weight wine and gin bottles.
2005
The Co-operative Group Stores are Powered by Wind and Water Power
Virtually all (99%) of the electricity supplying The Co-operative Group is sourced from good quality renewable sources. This makes The Group one of the largest purchasers of green electricity in the world.
Mobile phone and ink cartridge recycling launched in stores
The Co-operative Food actively supports consumers in the recycling of mobile phones and inkjet cartridges in partnership with Oxfam. Following a successful 2004 pilot, customers can now collect Freepost recycling bags from The Co-operative Food stores nationwide, enabling them to post their old equipment for recycling and reuse.
Market leading product packaging improvements
The Co-operative Food is the first retailer to run a successful minimisation programme with the Waste and Resources Action Programme, WRAP (www.wrap.org.uk). Own-brand tomato puree has been redesigned to eliminate box packaging and realise best in class status, saving an estimated 30% of the total packaging by weight.
The Co-operative joins the Courtauld Commitment
The Co-operative Food signs up to the Government's Courtauld Commitment, which seeks to ‘design-out’ packaging waste growth, to deliver absolute reductions in packaging weight and to tackle the amount of food consumers throw away.
Blacklisted fish delisted
Following Marine Conservation Society (MCS) Sustainable Seafood Supermarket survey (www.fishonline.org/buying_eating/supermarkets.php), The Co-operative Food de-lists or removes from sale huss (dogfish) and skate, species identified by MCS as ‘fish to avoid’ because stocks are vulnerable to exploitation.
Peat-free salad cress launched
The Co-operative Food is the first major retailer to stock peat-free salad cress which, rather than being sold in peat-lined punnets, is grown on special matting made of 100% biodegradable material.
Removal of phthalates
Diethyl phthalate (DEP) is used in perfumes and from a group of chemicals collectively known as phthalates, some of which are suspected of disrupting the body’s hormone system. As a result DEP is removed from all own-brand products.
Removal of artificial musks
Artificial musks are artificial perfumes used in a wide variety of household products. The two main groups, nitro musks and polycyclic musks, have been shown to be persistent and bioaccumulative. Nitro musks were removed from own-brand products in 2004 and polycyclic musks were removed in 2005.
2004
Responsible retailing The Group publishes its latest 'Shopping with Attitude' report (
www.co-operative.coop/corporate/corporatepublications) investigating consumer concerns about the food industry. Some 30,000 trading customers were involved in two separate rounds (1994 and 2004) of responsible retailing research, undertaken by Gallup and NOP respectively.
Removal of artificial musks
Artificial musks are artificial perfumes used in a wide variety of household products. The two main groups, nitro musks and polycyclic musks, have been shown to be persistent and bioaccumulative. The Co-operative Food has now removed nitro musks from all own-brand products.
Sustainable wood All of The Co-operative own brand garden furniture uses FSC-accredited timber.
Pesticides Advisory Group Established
The Co-operative Food establishes a Pesticide Advisory Group comprising individuals from Food Retail, Farms, expert NGOs and the UK Government’s Advisory Committee on Pesticides, with a view to the further development of the Pesticides Policy launched in 2001.
2003
Compostable packaging for tomatoes
All The Co-operative Food's organic tomatoes now use compostable trays.
UK's largest duel fuel lorry pilot launched
60 Foden articulated lorries in The Co-operative Food fleet have been converted to allow them to run on both compressed natural gas (CNG) and diesel. The dual fuel scheme operates from two distribution depots (Alferton and Cumbernauld). The fleet is supported by 700 trailers, and includes 40 double-decker trailers – each fitted with a pair of solar panels. These charge the batteries that power the moving deck and reduce the need for charging at the distribution depot.
Removal of phthalates
Diethylhexylphthalate (DEHP) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) are from a group of chemicals collectively known as phthalates. DEHP and DBP are suspected of disrupting the body’s hormone system. DBP and DEHP are both used as plasticisers in plastics, and as a result have been removed from own-brand clingfilm and children’s toys.
2002
Fruit and vegetables packed in biodegradeable packaging
All own-brand organic oranges and onions are now bagged in compostable, starch-based netting.
Triclosan removed from cleaning fluids
Triclosan is an anti-bacterial agent often marketed under the name Microban®. Concerns exist about bioaccumulation in humans and about it causing antibiotic resistance. As a result, Triclosan has now been removed from all own-brand products, such as cleaning fluids.
2001
Closing the Loop
The Co-operative Group introduces a unique and exciting scheme whereby the wastepaper generated at the business' head offices is used to make products, which are then sold through The Co-operative Food stores throughout the UK, hence 'Closing the Loop'. For own-brand 100% Recycled Toilet Tissues and 100% Recycled Kitchen Towels, scrap office wastepaper, previously sent to landfill in the general waste stream, is now collected, recycled and, via paper product suppliers, made into these products to be sold in The Co-operative Food shops.
Group wins Green Apple Awards
The Group's commitment to the environment is rewarded with a Green Apple Award in 2001 for the Closing the Loop scheme (outlined above) and also in 2002 in recognition of its policy to reduce pesticides.
Eggs kept GM free The Co-operative Food initiates a ban on yolk colourants and genetically modified (GM) ingredients in feed of hens laying own-brand eggs.
Pesticide Policy Launched
The Co-operative Food works with suppliers to launch a Pesticides Policy containing 20 prohibited and 30 restricted pesticides. The policy applies to the production of fresh, frozen, dried and canned produce, ready meals (frozen), wine and a number of ambient grocery lines.
1999
Lindane pesticide banned
The Co-operative Food suppliers are the first to be told to ensure that Lindane is not being used as an agricultural treatment for fresh produce or The Co-operative Food brand products sold in its stores. This follows mounting concerns over the effects of the chemical on human health. A halt is called to the use of Lindane on the 85,000 acres of land The Co-operative Farms. Lindane is also removed from domestic gardening products sold in its stores.
Genetically modified food and ingredients
Suppliers are instructed to remove such genetically modified (GM) ingredients or to reformulate products. The Co-operative Food's opposition does not, however, extend to enzymes and processing aids, on the basis that these do not find their way into the final product and are produced within closed systems (and pose minimal risk to the environment). All products using such processes are labelled to ensure that customers are aware that use has been made of genetically modified organisms; most significantly, in the case of vegetarian cheese where GM-derived chymosin is used.
1998
The Co-operative supports the Marine Stewardship Council
The Co-operative Food registers its support for the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) (www.msc.org), an independent, global, non-profit organisation that uses a market-based approach to help improve the management practices of fisheries.
Packaging claims and product policy
In response to the introduction of The Green Claims Code (www.defra.gov.uk/Environment/consumerprod/gcc/index.htm), The Co-operative Food commits not to use 'Environment Friendly' or other such meaningless claims on own-brand products.
1996
Bag it and Bin it
The Co-operative Food supports the campaign to Bag It and Bin It, which highlights the damaging effects that careless disposal of personal hygiene products can have on the environment. Therefore, where applicable, The Co-operative brand products carry the bold heading 'BAG IT AND BIN IT - Don't flush it', and recommend that all insoluble products are 'bagged' and 'binned' and not flushed down the toilet.
1995
The Co-operative supports forest sustainability
The Co-operative Food joins World Wildlife Fund 95+ Group. The group has a broad membership and is committed to sourcing wood from well-managed sources and ensuring the well being of the native population. The criteria are set by the Forestry Stewardship Council.
The Group has since been relaunched as the WWF-UK Forest and Trade Network (
www.wwf.org.uk/ftn)
1992
Pesticide management
After pioneering the use of integrated crop management (ICM) on its own farms, The Co-operative Food joins with other retailers and farmers to develop crop protocols. These are designed to minimise the use of chemicals, whilst providing safe food at affordable prices.
1990
CFC reductions
Aerosol retailers and manufacturers endorse safer alternatives by following the lead of The Co-operative Food, which switched its stock of aerosols to alternative gases in 1987.
1988
Recycling labels on food packaging
The Co-operative Food initiates a market-leading step-change in labelling, by introducing the recycling symbol on all appropriate own-brand products.