BRC reports waste drops by a third
The British Retail Consortium has praised its new on-pack recycling logo for encouraging consumers to recycle more after revealing that BRC members sent 30% less waste to landfill last year compared to 2005.
'A Better Retailing Climate Progress Report 2009' by the BRC said that 130,000 fewer tonnes of waste were sent to landfill in 2008 compared to 2005, and, that retailers had also cut the number of single-use carrier bag taken by half in the past three years.
Targets for 2013 include reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill by another 25%. IN the meatnime, department store John Lewis has committed to 95% less waste to landfill in the same timescale.
Stephen Robertson, BRC Director, said: "The ambitious green goals are in addition to retailers' ongoing initiatives to encourage customers to adopt more environmentally friendly behaviour."
Officially launched this year, the standard on-pack recycling label, has also helped customers to recycle more of what can be recycled claim the BRC.
Studies on Asda have shown that the supermarket has reduced its own-brand packaging to save around 48,000 tonnes of waste each year up to the end of 2008 across all packaging types and materials.
Ian Lucas, Business Minister was pleased by the achievements, saying "I welcome retailers taking the initiative of voluntarily pushing further and setting themselves even harder targets to help the UK meet its climate change goals."
Other Companies signing up to the Better Retailing Climate commitments are Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer.
