Iceland has angrily rejected a new Which? supermarket ranking putting it bottom for sustainability out of all major supermarkets.
The first supermarket sustainability league table from Which? focused on 11 major UK grocers’ performance across three areas – plastic waste, food waste and greenhouse gas emissions.
Iceland – whose MD Richard Walker last year published a book titled The Green Grocer – scored only 29% overall after performing underwhelmingly on all three fronts, according to Which?.
Iceland did not report how much of its own-brand plastic is recyclable, so got zero points for plastic recyclability, one element towards its overall plastic score of 2.5 – but Which? said even a maximum score in this area would have still left the frozen food retailer in last place.
However, the findings have led to a row between Iceland and the consumer rights business, with the supermarket threatening legal action ahead of the report’s publication.
“Far from working with the supermarkets to acquire the most accurate and comparable data available, as they claim, Which? have chosen to ignore repeated warnings by us and our legal advisers that their methodology was completely flawed,” said Walker.
He said the Which? data on plastic “bore no relation to our own audited and published data”, used to calculate tax on packaging.
The carbon calculation “grossly misrepresents Iceland because it is based on retail spend rather than sales volumes, penalising supermarkets that sell at low prices” he added.
Which? said Iceland used the most plastic of all the supermarkets relative to the volume of items it sells.
It said carbon scores were based on factors including tonnes of emissions per £1m of revenue.
Iceland performed poorly on operational greenhouse gas emissions due to its reliance on in-store freezers, though it buys 100% renewable electricity for UK sites, Which? said.
M&S came second-last with 48%, scoring poorly on food waste because it did not provide data in a “comparable format”, according to Which?.
M&S said: “Which? is just one industry benchmark based on certain criteria and our position [in the rankings] does not reflect M&S’s commitment to building a sustainable future.”
Waitrose and Lidl were joint top with 74%.
Lidl rated best for greenhouse gas emissions and third best for plastic use, mainly due to the majority of its own-brand plastic packaging being recyclable at kerbside.
Waitrose also earned a “reasonable score” for GHG emissions and strong results for both plastic and food waste compared with rivals.
| Supermarket | Overall score | Greenhouse gases (max 25) | Plastic (max 12) | Food waste (max 11) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lidl |
74% |
25 |
9.5 |
2 |
|
Waitrose |
74% |
17 |
10.5 |
8 |
|
71% |
19 |
7 |
8 |
|
|
Sainsbury’s |
71% |
20 |
8.5 |
6 |
|
69% |
18 |
6 |
9 |
|
|
68% |
15 |
8.5 |
9 |
|
|
66% |
24 |
6.5 |
2 |
|
|
65% |
17 |
11.5 |
3 |
|
|
63% |
14 |
5 |
11 |
|
|
M&S |
48% |
16 |
6.5 |
1 |
|
Iceland |
29% |
5 |
2.5 |
6 |
|
Source: Which? |
The John Lewis Partnership’s director of ethics & sustainability, Marija Rompani, said: “We are pleased to be recognised by Which? for our efforts in making Waitrose and The Partnership a more sustainable business.
“We know there is more to do. We are committed to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and will continue to make progress across all areas so that our customers are proud to shop with us.”
Third-placed Sainsbury’s, which was this year’s Cop26 supermarket sponsor, topped the GHG emissions table due to a series of carbon-saving initiatives such as installing LED lighting across all stores. It also recorded the second-lowest percentage on food waste of all supermarkets.
Like Sainsbury’s, Asda scored 71% after a solid performance across all three categories, though “it could do much better for the recyclability of its own-brand plastic,” Which? said.
Tesco was a “decent overall performer” across the board, considering its sheer size – with a particularly good food waste reduction operation and good net zero targets.
Morrisons’ business model, which sees it operate 18 of its own manufacturing sites in addition to stores and distribution centres, affected its CO2 emissions score. But it did well for food waste and had made progress on own-label plastic packaging recyclability, according to Which?.
Aldi was right behind Lidl in its GHG emissions efficiency, but it struggled with plastic and food waste.
The Co-op was best overall on plastic but its food waste as a percentage of UK food sales was 24 times that of Ocado.
Ocado topped the food waste table as it redistributes almost all surplus, leaving only 0.04% as waste.
Which? said all major UK supermarkets had room for improvement.
“We know that consumers increasingly want to shop sustainably and our in-depth analysis of three key areas shows that all the big supermarkets could be looking to make some improvements,” said Which? magazine editor Harry Rose.
“The good news is shoppers can make a big difference themselves by adopting more sustainable habits, such as buying loose fruit and vegetables, buying seasonal local produce, eating less meat and dairy and limiting their own food waste.”
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