Tesco close to delivering on landfill goal

Supermarket giant Tesco will today announce that it is fast closing in on its target of sending no waste to landfill from any of its stores, after confirming that 800 further stores from across Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and London have now cut the amount of waste that goes to landfill to zero.

The company said that the expansion of its zero waste initiative, which has resulted in around 1,700 of its 2,306 UK stores now sending no waste to landfill, means it is on track to divert 95 per cent of the waste it produces from landfill by the end of 2010.

The new target features in Tesco's annual Corporate Responsibility Report, which details how the company is currently operating over 3,500 waste reduction and recycling initiatives, includes projects to divert waste meat to a third-party waste-to-energy plant, recycle carrier bags into refuse bags, and increase the roll out of reusable display trays that have already saved 20,000 tonnes of cardboard in the UK.

The company also provided an update on its carbon footprinting programme, which it said has resulted in over 100 products now carrying carbon labels.

However, while the company is bound to secure plaudits for its waste reduction efforts, its carbon performance paints a more mixed picture, with the company reporting that while its carbon intensity has improved overall, emissions have climbed.

The report states that over the past year Tesco's net sales area grew by 16.4 per cent, while the absolute carbon footprint grew by 3.7 per cent, resulting in a fall in carbon intensity – ie CO2 emissions per square foot – of 10.9 per cent year on year.

Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy said the company remained fully committed to its high-profile climate change strategy. "Climate change remains the major strategic challenge of our age," he said. "I fundamentally believe that business has a crucial role to play in tackling climate change, setting an example, guiding consumers towards more sustainable forms of consumption, making them affordable and providing the information on which to make informed green choices."