Did you know that for the last 2 years we have been the sponsor of the Environmental Leadership Award through Business in the Community (BiTC) http://www.bitc.org.uk/environment/env_awards.html?

We do a lot of activity with BiTC but for me being on the panel of judges for this award is a real honour. The bar to even enter is very high as companies need to be BiTC members and to have achieved a minimum standard already – a Gold or Platinum level in the CR Index

I am delighted to report that Kingfisher won the award for 2010 and I had the pleasure of presenting their award alongside Sir Stuart Rose, Chairman of M&S and Philip Green, CEO of United Utilities – I’m the one on the left!

We will be sponsoring this award again in 2011 so I would encourage all companies who meet the minimum requirements to enter and good luck. To any business who doesn’t want to enter, I would recommend this BiTC guide though.

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So the other day I was having a drink with Jon Wylie, who is on secondment with us but actually works for Veolia Environmental Services, our main waste contractor. Not only have Veolia helped us to make great strides to hit our target of sending no waste to landfill by the end of this year but Jon informs me they have worked on another innovative project with Renault. Interesting stuff…

Veolia and Renault joined forces to build a car production plant that emits the lowest levels of carbon and so environmental impact yet seen from this kind of facility. The factory is in Tangier, Morocco, and from 2012 will produce at least 170,000 cars a year with targets to increase this to nearly half a million cars a year.

The CO2 emissions when compared to a standard plant producing 400,000 new cars are an unbelievable 98% lower – the equivalent of 135,000 tonnes of CO2 every year – and water usage will be cut by 70%. Seriously impressive results which match our own aspirations to ensure that our customers can buy the products they need at a lower environmental impact yet get the same great value.

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You may have seen in the news today that Asda and a number of other big businesses have been working with a leading environmental think tank, Green Alliance, looking at the products that we sell and how we can design out waste.

Our brief is well summed up in their report:

“As businesses, we are increasingly aware that consumers at all levels of the market want and expect us to provide them with better products with lower environmental impacts. Consumers don’t want to spend time researching their purchases or comparing labels. They don’t want simplistic green spin, but neither do they want a barrage of incomprehensible information. They want environmental responsibility built into all products.”

I’ll leave you to read the report if you are interested in the details but in essence we make 4 key points that we hope the new government will take on board if they do truly want to be the greenest government yet:

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Anyone who knows me also knows that I‘m a big fan of Scotland. This time however I wasn’t at my favourite haunt in the Hebrides but in Edinburgh.

Myself, Sarah from our corporate sustainability team and David our Head of Regional Corporate Affairs were in Edinburgh last week to take part in discussions as to how Asda can support Scotland on our mutual aims – to lead the world on carbon reduction. Scotland already has the most aggressive carbon reduction goal in the world – 42% by 2020 – and this event was to discuss how we can accelerate delivery of this goal.

Whilst I was talking to people there it again occurred to me that, as is so often the case, when we talk about Asda’s sustainability achievements there is surprise that a low price retailer can sell greener products but this is precisely what gets me out of bed in the morning.

If you make sustainability affordable and accessible then you empower everyone, regardless of income, to make a difference. Just allowing select elite people to live sustainable lives will not make the difference that Asda seeks in playing our part to help our customers and their families become more sustainable and so make sure they gain the benefits from having done so.

More hard work from us to follow but when you have the drive of the world’s largest retailer and that of the Scottish people then success surely is guaranteed….

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Come on, how many of us have old electricals hiding at the back of our cupboards and drawers. I did a sweep at the Walker-Palin house yesterday and came up with an old power tool at the back of a cupboard – and we are regular recyclers (or so we thought!).

This week is Recycle Week 2010 so a perfect opportunity for us all to hunt out those old electricals and send them for recycling or re-use.

According to WRAP, the government’s resources agency, 3 out of 4 of us have at least one unwanted electrical item but there are complicated reasons why we don’t recycle them. We either:

• feel too sad to part with an item
• hope it might come in handy some day or would be able to pass it on
• feel that some items seem too valuable just to throw away
• hang on to them because we’re not sure what to do with them

Well if you feel too sad to part with an old electrical why not ask for advice from the Recycling Agony Aunt or feel positive about using your old item to help others by donating it to the British Heart Foundation.

If you’re not sure what to do with them then WRAP’s handy postcode checker is for you.

Or if you are one of the millions excitedly waiting for a certain new phone to be launched on Thursday then why not make some cash from recycling your old mobile to help pay for it. There are loads of companies available or you could try Envirophone – feel good and make some cash, definitely the Asda way!

I bet there are loads of other exciting ways of using unwanted electricals so please share yours with us on this blog.

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I am really passionate that we not only have a responsibility to make our business more environmentally friendly and to help our customers tackle the eco crunch whilst saving money but also that we should use our learnings to help other companies.

I have spent the week so far in Edinburgh talking about the steps we have taken to reduce our carbon emissions and how this has given us significant cost reductions. However this is a drop in the ocean when you look at the reductions that will be mandated in the future – businesses which grasp this, like ourselves, will also gain a competitive advantage.

I was very privileged to be asked to present to The Scotsman Retail Conference on Tuesday where I talked about what we have done so far to reduce our own environmental impact but how this accounts for just 8% of our total impact when you consider our products (http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Green-benefits-to-Scots-businesses.6334188.jp). Our main focus now is on our supply chain and our products, to help our customers make the right choices at the right price. Being sustainable must not be the reserve of the rich but must be available to all Asda customers.

I would really like to hear from small and medium sized companies as to how we might be able to share our knowledge to help you learn from our sustainability journey. If we get enough response then I am very happy to convene a seminar at Asda House to share what we have learnt over the last 5 years.

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At Asda we have done more than any other UK retailer to reduce our packaging, educate consumers on how they can recycle it and work with government and the waste industry to enable better recycling of packaging. It’s close to our hearts. Whilst the rest of the retail sector recently went for a 10% reduction in food packaging weight, we smashed a 25% reduction.

Since then we have created an expert body comprising of government, lobby groups, academics, major brands and the packaging industry. We call this group a SVN – Sustainable Value Network – and they very kindly offered their time to help us configure a new system that will enable future further packaging optimisation.

Packaging gets knocked every day but we must remember that without it, enormous amounts of food would rot before reaching the mouths of our customers and their families – but we do agree that it must be optimised, ie reduced as much as possible whilst still carrying out its primary purpose – to protect the product.

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Can you believe that we are halfway into our trial of dispensing fabric softener out of a machine? Sometimes I wonder where all the time is going…Anyway, loads of bloggers have asked me for an update as to how we are getting on so I thought that I would give you all a bit of an update.

Well, the trial is going well and customers are really getting behind it. We have some pouches being refilled for the 5th time though most are coming back for the 2nd time – after all it is 1.5 litres in volume! This is in line with our projections, which is reassuring. I’m particularly very encouraged by our colleagues’ reaction to it also – they are supportive as it saves them having to put all the bottles on the shelf.

I also want to take this time to say a massive ‘Thank You’ to two companies whose dedication have made this project work – McBrides (who make the conditioner) and Eziserv (who created the machine). Both have given us fantastic support and really helped to drive this trial and make it happen.

The trial will remain until August in our stores in Glasgow Govan, Carlisle, Barnsley, Hartlepool and Swansea – if you live close to these stores then do give it a try and let us all know what you think.

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Trolleys may be an unexpected hero in the fight to protect our planet but can make more of a difference than you might think.

The new trolley collection system we have just introduced to prevent them going on permanent ‘walkies’ has some surprising environmental benefits.

This new scheme will save us having to buy replacement trolleys, so we can use these financial savings to continue to lower our prices, but also by not buying the trolleys in the first place they won’t need to be manufactured. This will save over one and a half million kilos of carbon every year.

OK a small step but one definitely worth taking. Made me look at our humble trolley in a new light when I was doing my shopping today – though fitting them with a green cape may create some concern in our health & safety team!!

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Well it has been a few weeks since I returned from the US but you can see my initial impressions in the vblog above, recorded right at the close of the conference.

I have to say that we covered a wide range of issues within the 4 days that we were there, from refrigeration strategy to deforestation. The result since returning to the UK has been remarkable, particularly in the global sharing of information. It’s fair to say that I spoke regularly with my international counterparts before this event but that has certainly accelerated since this Summit.

Watch this space for new announcements to come out from Walmart – there are some great ideas being kicked around internally that will make a real change when they come to fruition!

Let me know if you have any questions on the specific areas that we covered as I would be happy to update you – better than just writing a 4 page blog covering details that might not be of interest!

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My thanks to everyone who supported Earth Hour.

In WWF’s own words “The event was a huge success in fact, over a billion people switched off their lights. Over 4000 towns and cities in 126 countries were plunged into darkness, not to mention Big Ben, the Palace of Westminster, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Pyramids, the Coliseum and the Forbidden City. And if you ve got a minute, you can check out photos and videos from the night“

I must admit that it felt weird sitting in my front room in the dark but not as impressive as all the iconic buildings around the UK that were in the dark. You can see the images here

Our stores, customers and colleagues really rose to the challenge and we are already making plans to make next year the biggest yet for Asda and Walmart so watch this space!

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So WWF’s Earth Hour is this Saturday at 8:30pm. Don’t forget to sign up if you haven’t already (http://www.earthhour.wwf.org.uk/). Loads of celebrities are involved from Stephen Merchant to Tom Jones and from Rhod Gilbert (my wife’s favourite comedian) to Darius

We are very supportive of the campaign. Did you know that we have an environmental champion in every store who we call a Green Champion. These colleagues are on the front line of helping us to become a low carbon business and have been coming up with innovative ideas of how their store can get involved. My local branch (Asda House in Leeds) is turning off its sign for the first time ever thanks to Sarah Belmont. You may have noticed that we also have the Earth Hour message on our asda.co.uk website and Asda FM in store is encouraging all our customers to get involved.

What a great way to spend an hour with family or loved ones catching up on the week whilst showing that we can all make a difference to the world. Please get involved http://www.earthhour.wwf.org.uk/.

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If you haven’t already been there then I really recommend you check out TreeHugger. OK, I know that the name makes it sound like a bunch of hippies standing in a field but it’s actually an internationally respected site (and the most read blog site in the world) and is packed with fascinating articles across a whole range of issues.

In fact I had the opportunity to meet one of their top bloggers, Bonne Alter, last week to chat about what we are doing at Asda – check out the resulting article here.

Before you click into the link, I would like to correct a couple of areas, namely we were actually the first supermarket to introduce local sourcing hubs over 10 years ago, something that our competitors have since copied, as it allows small suppliers to easily sell their products to our customers. Also, I would argue against the comment that George is a fast fashion brand in the true sense of the word – we have a 100 day guarantee and whilst our clothes are very reasonably priced they are made to last- after all what is low prices if the clothes wear out after a week! On the final paragraph, we are certainly closely aligned with the rest of Walmart on our sustainability strategy too.

Let me know what you think of the article and please do check out TreeHugger as I certainly find it a very interesting site – they even do a daily update email!

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On Saturday 27 March 2010 at 8.30pm WWF wants over a billion people around the world to switch off their lights for an hour. The reason is to send a strong message to world leaders, including the next UK government, that they want positive action to tackle climate change. This is symbolic but also a good chance to reflect on how much energy we use as individuals and businesses.

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Whilst I was over in the US I spent time with Rand Waddoups, Senior Director US Sustainability and Lea Jepson, Sustainability Director for US own brand products. Both have full time roles helping to embed sustainability into the Walmart US business.

I managed to grab them both for a quick vblog, though unfortunately we were cut short as we were making too much noise (!) and so I was only able to get Rand’s views.

Have a look as it’s a great example of how becoming more sustainable helps in all sorts of areas that you wouldn’t immediately expect. In the case that Rand discusses here, it helps to recruit talent into Walmart in the first place!

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