Bolland: environmental features a licence to trade

Good green credentials would become a “licence to operate” for manufacturers and retailers going forward, rather than just being a wish list, claimed Morrison’s chief executive Marc Bolland last week.

Bolland called for packaging suppliers, manufacturers and retailers to work together far more closely to simplify the packaging used in grocery retail. Speaking to the IGD think tank’s annual convention, where sustainability was voted one of the industry’s most important issues and packaging reduction a key priority, he said: “Packaging is too complicated.”

Setting out changes underway at Morrison, he reported the retailer’s targets for reducing its environmental impact by the year 2010 across a range of criteria. The need to restructure Morrison following its acquisition of Safeway meant it had been slower than other retailers to latch on to the new green agenda. “We have not been famous for sustainability,” admitted Bolland.

Over the past six months Morrison had relaunched 3,000 own-label lines to match offers available from other major retailers in areas including organics and added value ranges, said Bolland. The target was to have 4,000 relaunched by the end of the year, he added. “Speed is essential in retail.” About 1,700 lines will be repackaged to denote to shoppers that they had been made in-store.

With green consumerism on the rise, Tesco finance and strategy director Andrew Higginson also added: “Soon you will have to be a green business in order to grow.”

Peter Child, director with consultancy McKinsey and Company in France said Tesco’s green strategy might substantially be driven by it having identified customers prepared to pay a premium for greener products. He was speaking at a supply chain conference organised by the CIES food business forum in Prague last week.

The rise of the “ethical consumer” was also highlighted by Sainsbury’s retail director Ken McMeikan. “We have responsibility to ensure customers can make informed choices,” he said. He described a packaging reduction project begun last month to cut packaging across the crisps, nuts and snacks that Sainsbury stocks. The result had been a 20% packaging reduction across the category, equivalent to saving 80,000t a year, he claimed.

McMeikan’s view of the shoppers needing help in making green choices was endorsed by Asda executive board director Darren Blackhurst. He said: “Customers want to make a difference but they need help. They want to trust their local supermarket to do the right thing. We are absolutely committed to taking a common sense approach to this.”

Asda plans to reduce its use of packaging by 10% by the end of the year, equivalent to taking out 20,000t. “These savings will be passed back to customers in lower prices, said Blackhurst.