Sainsbury’s is ‘top retailer of Fairtrade goods in world’

• Mar. 8 by Natalie Eccleshall (1)

Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has been called the most ‘eco-friendly supermarket’ by a recent survey.

The survey found that the company sells the largest range of Fairtrade products in the world.

In the West Midlands, the stores have been busy the past two weeks by promoting awareness of the cause for Fairtrade Fortnight.

Cannock Sainsbury’s representative Heather Norman said:

‘A couple of colleagues and myself visited numerous schools in the West Midlands with a whole array of products that we sell in order to educate the kids on what’s available and where the money goes from Fairtrade products.

They were in awe at how many products we sell and the poverty that the ‘farmers’ and ‘traders’ in Africa were in due to their previously poor pay.’

The most popular Fairtrade product for the store is their staggering sale of ‘Fairtrade bananas’. Store Manager Robert Hilman said:

‘We sell over 1,200 bananas per minute- all fairtrade!’

Sainsbury’s also recently vastly changed its ‘waste procedures’ in order to take more care of the environment and now every store runs a strict ‘no waste to landfill’ policy, whereby all waste produced by the store (out-of-date goods, perishable items etc) goes to a closeby anaerobic digestion plant, where it is produced into usable energy.

Unsalable vegetable products are donated by the store to local ‘Rodbaston College‘, Staffordshire, where it is used to feed the animals in their care. Course director of the ‘animal management course’ Colin Robertson voices his appreciation of the donations made by the store:

“We’re so grateful to Sainsbury’s Cannock for their monthly donations. We’re largely run by donations for our animal sanctuaries and so any help is very much appreciated!”

In aid of Sports Relief which is going on around the country at the moment, Sainsbury’s also stocks limited edition T-Shirts, which are all Fairtrade certified.

The store’s other green credentials include using 100% Fairtrade Cotton used in it’s clothing range ‘TU’, promoting Bags for Life, donating to Computer Aid and being the first uk retailer to make daily food deliveries using a lorry powered by fuel from waste products.