We’ll be there to support our retailers every step of the way

The big difference between the Musgrave business model and that of the multiples is that our retailers have autonomy – we don’t force waste management policy on them. Which is why it’s impressive that we’ve got retailers disposing of food waste through composting or biomethane production – projects they’ve developed independently.

But it’s up to us to help all retailers see that managing operations in a sustainable way makes good business sense. It’s also about making it easy for them to do the right thing. Virtually all Budgens stores in Britain separate and flat pack card and plastic for collection and recycling, and have been doing so for a few years now. We take it away free of charge.

In legislative terms, Ireland is seven or eight years ahead of us. Higher landfill levies were a great incentive for retailers to recycle more of their waste. We carried out an analysis of waste streams to identify where savings could be made, and that translated into direct cost savings that no retailer could ignore.

In our efforts to reduce waste in Great Britain, we were inspired by examples such as Down’s SuperValu in Ballincollig, Co. Cork. At the start of 2003, waste disposal was costing the business about €6,500 per month, and the retailer was only recycling around 16 per cent of total waste. In 2007 his average monthly cost was just €2,000 and he was recycling around 78 per cent.

As landfill costs continue to rise and the breadth of opportunities for recycling will grow. We’ll be there to support our retailers every step of the way.