Waitrose gets greener

The John Lewis Partnership will open its first ‘off grid’ green-charged outlet before the end of the year.

The new Waitrose in Norfolk, England, will use a mix of energy technologies to power the 15,000 – 20,000 square foot store, and will facilitate carbon savings of 60% compared to a store opened three years ago.

The new store, which is currently under construction, is being touted as a significant improvement to the company’s carbon emission production, seeing as 65% of the partnership’s emissions come from its buildings and only 30% from transport.

The company’s chairman, Charlie Mayfield, said: “We’ve doubled the size of the partnership over the past 10 years and we plan to double it again over the next 10 years. To do that we’ve got to add even more shops, but we must also make absolute reductions in our carbon emissions – not relative.”

The partnership has spent £50 million making its refrigeration units more efficient thereby cutting carbon emissions from them by 20%.

60 Waitrose stores also convert waste food into power and all outlets source their energy from green sources.

Since 2001, John Lewis has cut emissions in its 29 John Lewis department stores and 225 Waitrose stores by 27%.

Rupert Millar, 12.04.2010