CASE STUDY
to see heat-hungry food businesses relocating to supply chain of the future. designed to standardise the way in which the
sites with plenty of low cost heat which would When it comes to the retail of food greenhouse gas emissions associated with the
otherwise go to waste. products, there has been a lot of activity supply of goods and services are measured and
Bidwells Agribusiness is working to based around the ‘eco-store’ concept. The reported. Of significance is the inclusion of the
establish a number of salad crop glasshouses main retailers have established what are in consumer element in this protocol. This means
next to energy-from-waste plants, including effect test beds for a range of new concepts that to present a carbon footprint of a food
anaerobic digestion and biomass CHP. and technologies. Sainsbury’s has opened product, the assessment of greenhouse gas
Under-used government fiscal incentives a store in Dartmouth, which is dubbed the emissions will have to include the production,
such as the enhanced capital allowance ‘UK’s greenest store’. We can expect to distribution and retail elements, and also the
scheme, can also offer additional financial see some of the key features, including consumers’ contribution to greenhouse gas
clout to support what are invariably complex biomass boilers for heating, wind turbines for emissions. It remains to be seen whether
projects. Even using fossil gas CHP systems electricity and collecting rainwater for re-use, shoppers will respond to having the finger
has a dramatic impact on the overall GHG rolled out to Sainsbury’s and other retailers’ pointed at them as the source of a large
emissions of glasshouse salad production. stores. proportion of food’s carbon footprint.
The use of renewable biomass for fuel would Eco-stores are one example of the greening We can expect to see new ways in which
take this even further. of the built environment which is gathering pace. retailers attempt to change consumer behaviour
Transport and distribution of food products Planning policy is forcing businesses to provide in order to reduce environmental impact. This
within food supply chains is another important renewable energy and CO2 emissions savings includes efforts to increase on-line shopping for
piece of the sustainability jigsaw which has in any new buildings. The Code for Sustainable both convenience and to save the planet. Ocado
only recently started to be addressed. With the Buildings, while still 10 years away, is starting home delivery vans state that if you buy your
increases in fuel prices, every food business is to have an impact on strategic planning for food food from them “it is greener than walking to the
looking to reduce the cost of delivering their manufacturing, distribution and retail property supermarket”.
products to their customers. The food supply development. Our journey has shown that the food supply
chain of the future will undoubtedly require a The property portfolio of the food supply chain of the future is likely to have a different
more joined-up approach to logistics. chain of the future will be supplied largely by approach to the traditional supply chain model,
It seems obvious that an HGV, which travels renewable energy, with biomass and waste which has had a very short evolution over the
across the country to deliver its products to a being significant providers. Both will collect past 20 years.
customer, should transport other products to and recycle water and will be located to take Many of the changes are already happening,
destinations on its way back to ‘base’. However, advantage of synergies in energy supply and in response to the three key drivers: government
this is not always the case. waste processing. regulation, economics and consumer pressure.
The supermarket supply structure would The next step through the food supply chain What is perhaps going to take longer is the
seem to lend itself to an efficient use of HGV of the future is the consumer. The environmental greater collaboration and joined-up thinking of
space, based on its model of distribution to impacts of the how and where a consumer buys the different elements of the supply chain, both in
multiple retail outlets from a collection of food, how it is prepared and what happens to the relation to environmental impacts and to finding
distribution ‘hubs’ or depots. Common sense leftovers are only just becoming apparent. So economically viable solutions.
would suggest that after the vehicles have far the debate has overemphasised the issue of
delivered their loads to the stores they pick packaging, in particular the plastic bag.
up suppliers’ goods on their way back to the The greater impacts are becoming apparent in
depot. Similarly, the suppliers’ vehicles are terms of the greenhouse gas emissions associated
able to deliver goods to stores after making with consumer travel to buy food, the energy
their delivery to depot. We can expect to used to cook it and the waste which currently
see far more ‘collaborative logistics’ in the is most likely to end up in landfill (emitting
methane in the process).
In November, the Carbon Trust
and the British Standards Institute
were due to release a new protocol
30 SuStainable SolutionS December/January 2009
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