Last week we had a big event – what we call a Sustainability Milestone Meeting. The agenda was around ‘what sustainability means to Walmart’ and how we are driving it into our products.

Want the 60 second version ? Watch this and let me know what you think (I can’t think of many other companies that have their entire Execs supporting one programme)

If you want more information then try here.

Let me know your thoughts.

I’m occasionally asked why Asda doesn’t produce a CSR Report. The simple answer is that we do through the Walmart Global Responsibility Report (GRR). I’m delighted to tell you that the latest report has just been released.

You can read it hot off the press here. There’s also some great supporting videos on the Walmart site that give you more of a flavour of our past 12 months activities.

Drop me a line below if you have any questions or comments.

Next month sees another industry first from us as we strive to become a more sustainable business.

You may have become familiar with the plastic trays that we use on the shop floor for many of our fruit and vegetables. The benefit of using these trays is significant for the environment as:

• They’re re-usable and so save valuable wood pulp that would otherwise have gone into cardboard boxes
• They stack better in our vehicles which means it takes less of them to carry more product
• The products themselves need less handling and so reduce the risk of damage and the need to throw away unfit stock

But if you look closely most of the usage at the moment is for products produced nearer to home.

In a UK industry first, next month you’ll find pre-packed bananas in these re-usable trays at Asda. You might ask what the big deal is – well it’s pretty interesting.

We reckon just using re-usable trays for these bananas will save 6.75 million kilograms of cardboard every year – that’s quite a few trees!! Our plan is to also use the trays for loose bananas from next year which will save a further 8.25 million kilograms of cardboard. There’s a further benefit on product damages. Bananas are a delicate fruit and can be easily damaged so handling them less will improve their quality.

Just a small example but it all adds up. My thanks to our supplier partner Fyffes and congratulations to my colleagues, Jim and Paul, for this great achievement.

How horrified would you be if I told you that in the UK we waste 7.2 million tonnes of food every year. This concerns us at Asda as clearly there is limited value in us selling you great products at great prices if its only going to go in the bin! That’s why we are one of the oldest supporters of WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign.

As part of this campaign we regularly support our customers to use all the food we sell them. For example we were the first retailer to listen to our customers when they said that they don’t need date codes on certain products – like produce. For most produce its easy to spot when its past its best so a date code will only lead to perfectly good food being thrown away. Next time you’re in store see if you spot the missing date codes and let me know your thoughts below. Can we go even further in this campaign?

Visit the Love Food Hate Waste website for a handy portion calculator, meal planners, storage suggestions and tips on using up your leftovers. You could save around £50 a week by following these handy hints and tips! We want to sell you tasty Chosen By You food that you enjoy eating not that ends up in the bin.

We recently asked our customers their thoughts and they said:

• 77% agree they make effort to reduce food waste
• 51% agree the average family could save £50 a month
• 76% agree saving money encourages them to reduce waste
• 50% of shoppers anticipate trying to reduce food waste further over the next six months

Did you hear our advert on Asda FM when you were shopping last year ?

What should we be doing next – let us know below.

From next week we’ll be giving away free tree packs for schools, along with our charity partner BTCV. These packs are funded from the money we generated through recycling all your Christmas cards so a massive thank you from us!

Free Trees for Schools – Asda FM ad

Asda FM will be airing the details next week so play the clip above to hear the ad and find out all about it. Be one of the first schools to apply by following this link.