Tesco’s 2,315 Stores Send Zero Waste to Landfill
August 13th, 2009 - The UK’s largest grocery chain, Tesco, is now diverting all of the waste from its stores, offices and distribution centers away from the landfill.
Through recycling, composting, and burning meat to create electricity, the grocery store has reached their goal a full year early.
From the 531,000 tons of waste generated by the chain store's operation each year, 385,000 tons are now recycled. Plastic bags and cardboard are recycled into garbage bags and new cardboard. The old cardboard has only a 14 day turnover before it becomes new cardboard, hauling new products to the store. About 146,000 tons are diverted through other material recovery facilities, various composting techniques and waste-to-energy technology. The 5,000 tons of waste meat burned so far have produced 2,500 mega watt hours, enough to power 600 homes for a year.
An animal rights group in the UK opposes the meat to energy part of the plan, stating that killing fewer animals would also reduce excess, and that those savings are voided by the impact of raising the animals in the first place.
Tesco made this bold goal in 2006 and states that "methane gas from landfill sites is significantly more damaging to the environment than carbon emissions." The major chain attributes the achievement to a "massive logistical exercise in reducing, reusing and recycling, as well as seeking out the best providers of waste management services."
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