Question

Richard Dodd, Does your organisation have an official line on climate change- do you accept the science or dispute it? And if you accept it, do you accept the need for a radical change to the way large retailers transport, package and sell food?
Asked by Londontowner on Oct 28 2007 7:04:25 PM and supported by 25 members MORE!

Answer

None of this is becoming as a revelation or new issue to the stores, because they have always had every reason to be as efficient as possible in things like distribution network, how they use packaging and bags, because cost has always been powerful financial incentive to get things right. So the idea that stores are pointlessly driving lorries full of products for hundreds of extra miles for no good reason or weighting things with packaging – it is all nonsense, because it has always been in their interest to be as efficient as possible: use as little materials as possible and use as little fuel as possible . What is new is this new awareness that has developed in recent years about the environmental impact means that stores are more focused on it and public awareness is focused on it and therefore retailers are trying to tell public about these issues as much as possible. This is not new for them this is something they have been doing for years. Retailers have always had environmental policy and they have always had strong financial incentive to reduce amount of the materials they use. We are all very focused now on this issue of climate change. Retailers broadly accept the principle that we must reduce emissions and they are working hard on their side to do all that. But the environmental questions are bigger than that. They generally accept and they have always done that it is right that they should be as efficient as they can and that they minimise their impact for environment and that is what they are doing.

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