Marks and Spencers Energy Efficiency Increases by 19%
One of the biggest retailers in the UK has reported on their progress of their three year green entitled “plan A” which looks at the eco and environmental side of their business.
The headline news is that excellent progress has been made and out of the original 100 commitments contained in the plan 62 have already been achieved. The biggest headlines from this announcement is that the overall company energy efficiency has improved by 19% and they have cut their carbon emissions by 8%.
Marks and Spencer Plan A
The Plan A programme which was launched store wide and saw in-store advertising informing customers of the overall aims of the scheme started in 2007 and is a 5 year plan until 2012. Other headlines from this interim report from Marks and Spencers include :
- waste sent to landfill sites each year has fallen by 33%
- green renewable electricity tariffs make up 40% of the energy sourced
- overall packaging on garments has reduced by 36%
- 72% of wood used in products is recycled or Forest Stewardship Council
- refrigeration emissions reduced by 18%
And that’s for the environmental elements of the program but this also covers the healthier aspects of our lives and the project achievements for this side include :
- 38% of the food product range is made up of healthier foods
- 91% of all food products meet the FSA salt reduction targets
- community projects marks and spencer are involved in received £13.2 million last year
How does the Plan A work day today
The programme is all encompassing and covers a huge range of issues that the staff and management of Marks and Spencer are now achieving. Since the launch of the plan in 2007 the overall floor space for sales has reduced by 20% which comes from a variety of efficiency measures including the efficiency of delivery vans and lorries.
M&S also launched their Marks and Spencer energy program where they sell gas and electricity onto their customers and over 300,000 of their customers have signed up. The beauty of this particular tariff is that each unit of electricity used is matched by purchasing a unit of renewable energy which is given back to the national grid to use for other customers. In addition there are incentives for customers to reduce the amount of consumption they make.
Moving on from this all M&S employees were offered the chance to receive free loft or wall insulation for their homes and the M&S energy product also offers insulation services to their customers.
Reducing waste is also top of the agenda under plan A and they now have a zero waste to landfill simply food store in Bristol and over 33% of landfill waste has been reduced from all stores. In addition they have re-used 76% of their coat hangers and recycled the rest. Overall non glass packaging is also reduced by 20%.
The world’s most sustainable retailer….
Sir Stuart Rose the current chairman is not standing still either. The plan A has recently been expanded with a further 80 commitments added with the ultimate goal of being the world’s most sustainable retailer by 2015. Added to this in 2009 M&S were certified by the Carbon Trust for the standard of measuring, managing and reducing its carbon footprint. We wish Marks and Spencers all the best in continuing this excellent work on energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions.
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