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Protecting the environment has long been in the DNA of the Channel Islands Coop but now those values are being strengthened with a strategic framework. Emily Moore reports
WITH its long-established Community Fund, sponsorship of the Kitche app and solar panels on the roofs of its three newest Jersey stores, there can be little doubt that the environment is a priority for the Channel Islands Coop.
Indeed, with eco initiatives at the heart of many of its operations, the news that this leading retailer is just about to launch a sustainability strategy may come as a surprise to many.
But, as the organisation’s head of sustainability and community Carl Winn says: “There is always scope to do more.”
Having worked in various travel, operations and marketing positions with the Coop before taking on his current role when the position was created over two years ago, Carl acknowledges that while the strategy may be new, many of the concepts within it are anything but.
“Sustainability is at the heart of the Cooperative values,” he reflected. “In fact, I would say that it forms part of our DNA but, despite that, up until a couple of years ago, we didn’t have a person or department dedicated to this area. My role, therefore, was to develop a strategy for the future, something to which both the Coop team, our members and suppliers could work together to demonstrate our values and strengths as a Coop to bring about change.”
Describing the strategy as a “milestone document”, Carl adds that the objectives and focus areas are divided into four pillars.
“Essentially, this gives us a sense of direction and ensures that we are all pulling in the same direction,” he said. “While we talk about making ethical decisions, without a guide that is very much open to interpretation. This gives everyone the same framework and tools on which to base those decisions so that, together, we can have a lasting positive influence.”
The four pillars, which have already been presented to the organisation’s 80-strong management and leadership team, are planet, community, people and partners, and the objectives that form each of those pillars are aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
While some objectives are already under way, many of the action points are designed to achieve fairly ambitious goals, such as to become net-zero by 2050 and a food-waste reduction target of 50% by 2030.
“When you look at the strategy, there is a lot of content but a lot of it already forms part of our business approach,” said Carl. “As an example, all new store openings or refurbishments are carried out in a way which is as eco-friendly and energy-efficient as possible, and we already have plans to install solar panels on the roofs of our two Grand Marché stores, work on which is due to begin before the end of the year.”
With store-based initiatives in many ways the easiest to implement, the Coop is also committed to fulfilling its “educate and train” value by encouraging suppliers and customers to “join its journey”.
“We have already started work in this area, having consulted both members and suppliers while we were developing the strategy,” Carl explained. “Interestingly, the main topics of concern among our members were cutting food waste and reducing our carbon footprint, areas in which they can play a key part.”
With programmes to replace all lighting with LED bulbs and to “embrace greener transportation where practical”, the Coop is already making progress in cutting its carbon footprint.
And, through partnerships with charities and organisations such as Olio, and the recent launch, in conjunction with the government, of the Kitche app, initiatives to tackle the tricky subject of food waste are also under way.
“Kitche is a brilliant way for shoppers to play their part in helping us to achieve our aim of reducing food waste by 50% within the next seven years,” said Carl. “By signing up to the app and recording the food that you have in your fridge, freezer and cupboards, Kitche will help you to manage that inventory and give you recipe ideas to help you to use the ingredients.”
But it is not just within the home that food is often thrown away.
“Food waste happens right along the supply chain, from factories and fields to the transport stage and in supermarkets,” Carl acknowledged. “We have invested in retail technology to improve our ordering accuracy to try and reduce surplus stock but we cannot avoid issues such as bad weather impacting deliveries, which can result in multiple orders arriving on the same day. This is particularly problematic for shorter-dated products, such as bread, which is where our partnerships with Olio and other charities come into their own.”
And it is not just food which contributes to the waste problem, with plastic being another significant cause of concern.
“We are working hard to remove as much plastic as possible from the shopping experience, and customers will have noticed that items such as our pizzas now come in plastic-free recyclable cardboard boxes,” said Carl. “They will also have spotted that the plastic lids that used to be part of cream and yoghurt pots are now a thing of the past. And, of course, since the States introduced the law last year banning single-use plastic bags, we have greatly reduced the amount of bags issued at our tills.”
But while this change has no doubt brought environmental benefits, it did, as Carl explains, have implications for the Coop’s Community Fund.
“This was previously funded from the profits from our carrier bags so, when this source of revenue was hit, we had to find a new way to sustain this community support,” he said. “Therefore, from next year, we will donate 1% of the money from the sales of all locally produced goods to the Community Fund.”
As well as safeguarding the fund’s future, this approach will, Carl adds, “create a virtuous circle, encouraging people to buy local, thus supporting local farmers and growers while reducing food miles and therefore the Coop’s carbon footprint”.
“This is a great example of the connection between so many strands of the business and the way in which making ethical decisions can have multiple benefits,” he said. “Not only this but, by bedding ethics into our decision-making processes, we create a supportive workplace culture which embraces diversity and inclusion.
“While this is already a core Coop value, the sustainability strategy will help us to do more, not just within our own business but within the wider business and Island community as well. We know this won’t be easy, especially at a time when the cost-of-living crisis is squeezing both business and household budgets, but sustainability is an area of importance to the Coop, our members and our suppliers, so we are confident that, by bringing everybody together, we will make the right decisions and make good progress in this key area.”
