Tesco has announced it will continue expanding their carbon labelling project, with the goal to eventually have a carbon label on all their private label products. The UK’s largest supermarket chain now has 100 products with the label, which informs customers the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases produced during the lifetime of the product including use and disposal. “Last year Tesco started on an exciting journey of carbon labelling everyday products to help consumers understand... ...Read more »

SunChips, a line of multigrain snacks within PepsiCo’s Frito Lay division, announced today that in 2010 it will introduce the first fully compostable snack chip bag made from plant-based materials. The first step towards this transformational packaging will be made this month when the outer layer of packaging on SunChips snack bags will be made with a compostable, plant-based renewable material, polylactic acid (PLA). By Earth Day 2010, PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America division plans... ...Read more »

A pilot program to test an all-natural refrigeration system in Pepsi-Cola vending machines begins this month in the US. Under the new program, The Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) is placing 30 Pepsi-Cola vending machines in high-consumer traffic areas in the Washington, D.C. area. The machines, which feature the new Pepsi logo along with a special green refrigerant sticker, use less energy and generate 12% less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than current vending machines. In addition to their energy efficiency... ...Read more »

A senior food advisor to the UK Government has indicated that rationing may be a possible consequence of high levels of water use in the industry. Professor Tim Lang, from City University London, suggested that the threat to the food chain was just as high from its water footprint as its carbon footprint. He added that people needed to become aware of how much water is used in producing staple goods. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Lang said his team at City University London was working toward... ...Read more »

New research from the UK has found that consumers are as keen to buy “green” as ever before, with 62% of consumers saying environmental concerns influence their purchasing decisions ‘the same as a year ago’ and just over a quarter saying they influence them ‘even more’ than in 2008. The research established that a business’s green credentials have a significant impact on consumer buying choices. Two thirds (66%) of consumers say it’s important to buy... ...Read more »

Major stakeholders in the European food and drink supply chain have set up a roundtable to promote environmental sustainability. The Roundtable will constitute a major food sector-wide contribution to the EU’s ambitions in the field of Sustainable Consumption and Production, bringing together farmers and their suppliers, agricultural traders, food and drink producers, packaging suppliers, recovery organisations and civil society representatives, and will be supported by the UN Environment... ...Read more »

Tesco opened its first store of the future last week in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, a store they believe to be the UK’s most energy efficient. The store has been built using Tesco’s new low carbon blueprint which will provide a foundation for stores built in the UK going forward, and follows similar claims by other UK supermarkets last year that they had opened the region’s most energy efficient supermarket. Asda and Sainsbury’s, the region’s second and third largest... ...Read more »

Crust Gourmet Pizza Bars is set to reduce waiting time and improve energy efficiency with the help of a new oven – the first of its kind to be released in Australia. Crust’s flagship Annandale store – one of the busiest stores in the network – is now one of the first pizza shops in Australia to own the innovative new Middleby Marshall WOW! Oven. Previously only available in the US, the oven boasts the fastest cooking time in the pizza industry and has already delivered by... ...Read more »

Members of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) have reduced their CO2 emissions by 17% since 1990 as part of a plan to reduce their environmental impact. The reduction means the industry has been releasing an average of 58,000 tonnes less CO2 per year since 1990 – the equivalent of taking 22,000 cars off UK roads each year. This data is to be released today by the FDF in a new report highlighting how the UK’s biggest manufacturing sector is trying to reduce their environmental impact... ...Read more »

Recently released research by KPMG International and CIES reveals that, far from regarding corporate responsibility as a cost, many leading retailers and manufacturers see sustainability as: • a driver of innovation that can help build growth and profitability • integrated into the core business • driven by business need rather than formal requirements • having a neutral or positive impact on the bottom line • playing a crucial role in recruitment and retention The report, ‘KPMG/CIES... ...Read more »