Sainsbury’s to plant two million trees

Greenwise Staff

8th July 2010

Sainsbury’s will plant two million trees in the UK over the next five years as part of a new environmental strategy it unveiled today as it launched its 2010 corporate responsibility (CR) report.

The commitment is being made through the Woodland Trust’s 'More Trees More Good’ campaign and continues an existing partnership between the retailer and the charity. Sainsbury’s has already planted almost 250,000 trees through the Trust.

As it unveiled its CR report, Sainsbury’s said it was focusing on planting trees to emphasise the retailer's commitment to use as small an amount of resource as possible. It claimed it had set the most ambitious target in the industry for packaging reduction, aiming to reduce it by a third by 2015, against a 2009 baseline.

"This new strategy will help us to focus on trees as a single issue and ensure that we remain industry leaders in preserving the UK and the world’s forests for future generations," said Sainsbury’s chief executive, Justin King.

Sue Holden, chief executive of The Woodland Trust, added: "The Woodland Trust's More Trees, More Good campaign aims to encourage lots of individuals and organisations to plant more trees. We really value our partnership with Sainsbury's and we're delighted that they are setting a leading example by pledging to plant a further two million trees."

Under the Woodland Trust initiative, Sainsbury’s plants trees via the sale of Woodland eggs and chicken and through its Active Kids scheme.

Sainsbury’s said it would also plant trees indirectly through its woodland farmers and through a number of other projects, such as one that increases the yield of apples in orchards through tree planting.

Environmental strategy

Among the pledges outlined in today's CR report, Sainsbury's said it would continue to commit to its target of reducing CO2 emissions per square metre by 25 per cent by 2012 (against a 2005/06 baseline) and reducing its own brand packaging weight, relative to sales, by 33 per cent by 2015 against a 2009 baseline. It also said it would extend its zero food waste to landfill programme to all its convenience stores by the end of 2011. The retailer has already connected all its supermarkets and depots to the zero waste programme.

Meanwhile, as part of its environmental strategy, last month Sainsbury's launched a Cycle to Work initiative that it said it will roll out to 150,000 employees over the next few weeks.

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