Targets and performance
The Partnership has a number of targets for waste reduction:
- Divert 95 per cent of our operational waste from landfill by 2013.
- Recycle 75 per cent of all Waitrose waste by year-end 2012.
- Recycle 75 per cent of all John Lewis waste by year-end 2012.
- Achieve a minimum of 95 per cent building waste recycling on all new building projects in 2010.
- Divert 99 per cent of our construction, demolition and excavation waste from landfill for all 2011 projects.
In 2010-11 we diverted 81 per cent of all operational waste from landfill, up from 52 per cent in 2009-10.
During construction projects in 2010 we achieved an average of 95 per cent recycling; our top score was 100 per cent. To ensure we also reduce the volume of waste generated at construction sites we have introduced a target that sets a maximum of 6 tonnes of waste per 100m2 gross internal floor area.
View waste and recycling data.
Key initiatives
Recycling
The Partnership has recycled materials such as cardboard and plastic from our shops and distribution centres for many years. We continually look for ways to reduce waste further, and recycle more of the waste we produce. More recently, we have started backhauling waste cardboard, plastic and polystyrene to increase the volumes that can be recycled. Our shops and head offices continue to recycle office paper, plastic cups, toner cartridges, glass, magazines, cans, batteries and bottles.
Food waste
Our success in Waitrose has been partly attributed to increased use of anaerobic digestion (AD). Waitrose were the first UK food retailer to use AD plants for our operational food waste to generate electricity, heat and a high-nutrient fertiliser. Our trials began with five Waitrose shops and, by mid 2011, 114 shops were sending food waste to AD plants. Five John Lewis shops also send their waste to AD facilities.
In addition to utilising AD facilities, Waitrose endeavours to minimise food waste by ordering accurately and giving the customer the maximum shelf-life and best quality. We are also exploring how to enable local shop food donation more widely and we are working with FareShare (www.fareshare.org.uk), a registered charity, and Company Shop (www.staffshop.co.uk) to redistribute food within our supply chain that we cannot sell.
Encouraging customers to recycle
The Partnership is keen to encourage customers to recycle waste. Where space and local collection arrangements permit our Waitrose shops offer customer recycling facilities on or near our car parks for materials such as paper, glass, metal and clothing. In line with legal requirements the Partnership introduced recycling points for waste batteries in every John Lewis and Waitrose shop in 2010. Every Waitrose shop also offers carrier bag recycling facilities and John Lewis has carrier bag recycling in four stores. For more information on how we're helping customers reduce the number of carrier bags they use, see our views on carrier bags.
See minimising packaging for information on how we are reducing the impacts associated with our product packaging.
Since 1 July 2007, the UK's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations have allowed members of the public to recycle old electrical and electronic appliances at sites across the UK, free of charge. This is helping to reduce the amount of electrical waste being disposed of to landfill or incinerated. For more information on how we're helping customers to recycle old electrical equipment, see our views on WEEE recycling.
Our plans/key priorities
- Increase recycling and reduce waste in line with targets.
- Continue to work to identify opportunities for tackling food waste.
