Environmental Guide for Retail Sector

The retail sector, and most notably the food retailing sector was one of the earliest industries to be drawn into the sustainability debate – largely because of the identification of packaging as a touchstone for sustainability as a whole. Whist the debate about packaging continues, to be an important part of the sustainability mix, that debate has widened in ways that could not originally have been imagined. To an extent this is because retail is the interface between the consumer and commerce, the place where consumption is initiated, and where individuals feel their decisions about sustainability have merit and value. The growth of the Fair Trade movement is a case in point.

This guide recognises that the Retail Industry has played and will continue to play a pivotal role in the move towards sustainability.

The UK’s retail sector generates almost 8% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product and its sales account for one fifth of the economy. More than a third of consumer spending goes through shops. As at the end of June 2008, the sector employed almost three million people, which equates to 11% of the total UK workforce 1. The sector ranges from small and medium independent retailers, to large chain stores covering supermarkets, high-street fashion and electrical retailers.

As it is so diverse, the retail sector has wide ranging environmental and sustainability impacts, such as waste and recycling, biodiversity and labour standards in the supply chain, product safety, energy use, employee welfare and health and safety at work. In recent years, some of these issues have been brought to public attention by campaign groups, NGOs and the media.

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