Tescos carbon footprint?

jhegarty said:
Its simple , next time you are in Tesco look around , someone buys everything you see... if they didn't it wouldn't be stocked...
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So I deduce from that, its the people / consumers of this world that are driving demand and that all Global suppliers will continue to indulge us
as long as we demand it, no matter what the cost?
 
Elphaba said:
So I deduce from that, its the people / consumers of this world that are driving demand and that all Global suppliers will continue to indulge us
as long as we demand it, no matter what the cost?
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Thats exactly how a free market works ...
 
Elphaba said:
How could it be more expensive if they cut out the packaging? Its such a simple idea, bring and fill...
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The entire supply chain would have to change to deliver in bulk, supermarkets would need to install bulk bins or some means of distributing these products. Would they need extra staff to dispense/ weigh these products? The floor space required for such a system would render it impossible for all but large supermarkets to cope.

This has been tried in the past, there are some supermarkets in the US who sell some items in bulk, but I don't think it's anywhere close to going mainstream.
 
Yes but most people who have strong opinions on these issues have little or no understanding of how supply chains work. To them it's a simple black and white issue. If only that was the way the world really worked.
Social engineering is not a duty of supermarkets. Indeed it is not desirable. As was made clear earlier they sell what people want, if people really cared about their carbon footprint they wouldn't buy strawberries that have been flown in from half way around the world and the shops would stop trying to sell them.
 
Elphaba - why not head out to one of those places that allow you to pick your own strawberries thereby cutting out as many middlemen and as much packaging as possible?

Have to agree with Purple - and, it seems to me, some people with supposedly strong views on such matters often buy from supermarkets anyway (for convenience etc.) and then give vent to their cognitive dissonance by posting on AAM, phoning Joe Duffy, writing to the Irish Times etc. It's a bit like the whole "rip off Ireland" thing where the guy pays €10 for a tea and scone and then starts moaning about it afterwards instead of complaining about high prices at the time and exercising his right to shop around and take positive action against the perceived wrongs of the situation.
 
ClubMan said:
Elphaba - why not head out to one of those places that allow you to pick your own strawberries thereby cutting out as many middlemen and as much packaging as possible?
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And remember to cycle out so as to minimise the carbon footprint of the trip!
 
now I purchase my herbs from a local green grocer and they are grown in County Dublin!
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Many of our herbs are grown in our back garden.

I was reading an interesting article during the week about polution and pesticides. Apparently, in China, people are now looking for veg that has insect teeth marks in them. This is a good indicator of the amount of pesticides used to grow the crop.
 
Leo said:
And remember to cycle out so as to minimise the carbon footprint of the trip!
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Phew...I'm knackered.....just back from the strawberry fields, I attached
a wheelbarrow to the back of my bike and loaded it with strawberries...
I passed Tesco on the way....
 
I hope your wheelbarrow is made from recycled materials.
When you are finished with your bike it can be recycled as well!
 
O.K....O.K! Yes I may be in the minority and your comments have been interesting (except for Clubman's scone anaolgy??) I did a bit of research
Most countries recycling rate has doubled in the past three years, as the volume of waste has increased. For many materials the process of turning them back into useful raw materials is straightforward except for plastics. The only 2 types are recycled a lot are PET and HDPE. Often plastic is down-cycled into other products such as drain pipes and carpet fibres. Plastics also used for cars, tv's and computers, as this type of plastic contain toxins, can be difficult to recycle. Last month Steve Jobs (Apple)
detailed Apple's plans to eliminate the use of toxic substances in its products. A business, with a social conscience...yes they exist! As do,
other companies, namely..Starbucks, Estée Lauder and Wal Mart the worlds biggest retailer is reducing the amount of packaging it uses. Recycling
should be taken into account at the design stage (Cradle to Cradle-book)
'All materials should either be able to return to the soil safley or be recycled indefinately.' If done right, and I think we are still in the early stages, recycling saves energy and raw materials and reduces pollution...
By the way England is struggling with a mountain of green bottles..
 
Elphaba said:
Most countries recycling rate has doubled in the past three years, as the volume of waste has increased.
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What about each countrys' rate of reduction of consumption of the relevant materials?
Last month Steve Jobs (Apple)
detailed Apple's plans to eliminate the use of toxic substances in its products. A business, with a social conscience...yes they exist!
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Or maybe just another of the many businesses meeting the stipulations of RoHS and the like?
As do,
other companies, namely..Starbucks, Estée Lauder and Wal Mart the worlds biggest retailer is reducing the amount of packaging it uses.
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You don't have to look to far for controversy about Apple, Starbucks, Estée Lauder and Wal Mart just in case you think that these companies are somehow perfect.
By the way England is struggling with a mountain of green bottles..
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And to think they used to only have ten!
 
What about each country's rate of reduction of consumption of the relevant materials?

Do you know of any individuals that actively reduce their consumption of all manner of products from electrical goods to packaged foods? I dont, therefore its up to government and big business, to encourage reduction, but I dont hold out much hope. Your links very interesting...especially Esteé Lauder who's brands include the horrendously expensive MAC and Jo Malone, also Bobbi Brown, Clinique and Aveda - All you MAC addicts out there take a look at this Youtube clip of this very ugly woman (Sara Bernhard) advertising Mac lip products, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64SnLJ8qPM4

I will continue to reduce, reuse wherever possible, I have especially reduced my social conscience.
 
Elphaba said:
What about each country's rate of reduction of consumption of the relevant materials?
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Because it's reduce, reuse, recycle - and reduce is given primary position for a reason.
Do you know of any individuals that actively reduce their consumption of all manner of products from electrical goods to packaged
foods?
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We try to avoid products (especially foodstuffs) with unnecessary packaging. For meat, fish and fruit/veg it's easy - buy in the butchers, fishmongers or fruit/veg outlet/market stall rather than the supermarket and you get minimal packaging that way.
I dont, therefore its up to government and big business, to encourage reduction, but I dont hold out much hope.
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Everybody - including the individual - has a role to play.
this very ugly woman
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How petty...


I will continue to reduce, reuse wherever possible, I have especially reduced my social conscience.
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Huh!?

By the way - just curious but did you buy the strawberries mentioned in your first post?
 
I am merely making the point about Corporate social responsibility
and yes doing what we can to individually reduce & recycle, Why you have to argue with this I do not know. Taking a shot at the leader of a huge corporate brand is nothing, when she herself was most offensive in her add. By the way and I quote....."CEO Terry Leahy's recent announcement of its ten point 'Tesco in the Community' programme is the reflection of a growing realisation that the trust implied by that fact is now beginning to be eroded away. Customers still seek out the Tesco shopping experience, but they are beginning to feel uneasy with themselves for doing so. That is a warning sign that any retailer aiming to survive and thrive will pay heed to."

3 of their 10 point plan is..
1.Halve energy use by 2010
2 Double customer recycling by 2008
3 Help small suppliers by holding open days across the UK.
You can see the rest of it at [broken link removed]

O.k Clubman, I confess, I am guilty, I bought the strawberries,
big american juicy ones, its a free market, I was curious, they were delicious, considering they travelled such a long way. Yes, I care about the environment or I wouldn't have bothered posting, but aren't we all guilty to some extent, like kids in a sweet shop...We will go down in history as the consumerist age....
 
As has been noted on this thread but I think is worth restating ... the transport of goods as part of supermarket supply chains is very efficient (you fit a lot of strawberries in a 40ft truck etc.). Another point is that a lot of employment in developing countries in areas where there's no much else going on is supported through "market gardening" for supermarkets.

I have heard it said (and could well imagine it to be true) that by far the largest portion of the "field to table" carbon footprint of goods bought in Tescos is that produced by the car that the consumer drives to and from the supermarket !
 

I've a friend who's an airline pilot and when I commented negatively on the practice of flying baby sweet corn, mangetout, etc. up from Africa, he said that in the main, the planes bringing these to Europe are cargo aircraft. They would have brought cargo from Europe to Africa and if they didn't bring something back, they would be returning empty, but with much the same fuel consumption and environmental impact. And, as noted above, it does provide local employment & income in these countries.
 
EvilDoctorK said:
I have heard it said (and could well imagine it to be true) that by far the largest portion of the "field to table" carbon footprint of goods bought in Tescos is that produced by the car that the consumer drives to and from the supermarket !
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A bit like the carbon footprint of all those people who drive to the recycling facilities to do their good deed?
 
recycling will become an academic debate in time, this is because plastics, paper etc will become so costly that recycling will not be a moral argument but will be essential, also some items that are grown or manufactured in far off places may again have to be produced close to home because transport and material costs will outweigh labour costs. A great levelling is hapening and chinese labour will not always be cheaper than western. In fact old landfills could be reopened to reclaim the materials thrown away in the past again not for moral reasons but out of necessity
 
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