Director of Sainsbury’s Brand
Judith Batchelar
This is about long-term planning and working with our farmers to help them become stronger and more resilient, by sharing information, insights and investment we can truly help them in making the decisions that will improve their businesses and communities.
Helping our farmers face the future
We know that many of you will be interested in learning about our Fairly Traded pilot project. This video shows Judith Batchelar, Director of Sainsbury’s Brand, talking about our pilot and how we’re working with our farmers. The pilot is underpinned by our independently verified Sustainability Standards which are aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and cover our key crops and ingredients. Discover more about our ambitions, approach and methodology on our website.
Training and upskilling
Helping customers to reduce food waste
Sustainable and healthy diets
Living well
The new food dictionary
Fulfilling potential
Thinking differently about food waste
Tackling the obesity crisis
Revealing the secrets of Living Well
In this issue
Sainsbury's
For an overview of our sustainability achievements…
Visit our corporate website for more information on our commitments and progress
Sustainability Team
sustainability.team@sainsburys.co.uk
Sustainability update
Email our team
Welcome to the first issue of Live, our new digital magazine bringing you up to speed with all our sustainability work.
Many of you will have come to our annual sustainability event in May, where we outlined our progress on these and other issues. Bringing our stakeholders together on such occasions is of huge value to Sainsbury’s and we hope that this magazine will help you to stay in touch with us throughout the year. In this issue, we look at our Living Well Index, the obesity crisis, the fight against food waste and improving the nation’s productivity. We would love to hear your thoughts on these topics, so please get in touch at
Live
Sainsbury’s sustainability update
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Back to contents
Wellbeing is rising up the agenda at a time of rapid change in how we live our lives. The analysis within the Sainsbury’s Living Well Index reveals that, in a world that’s never been more connected, the richness of our relationships and support networks remains among the biggest determinants of how well we live.
Director of Consulting at Oxford Economics
Ian Mulheirn
Read more about the results and find out your personal Living Well score
We’ve formed the Living Well Advisory Group – a panel of experts who will help us understand how we can best use Sainsbury's resources to improve how our customers, colleagues and communities live. And we recently held the Living Well Forum, bringing together 60 leading voices on the mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing of the nation, to discuss ideas for improving how well the nation is living.
The results? Sleep quality has the strongest association with Britons’ quality of life – for the typical Brit, improving their sleep to the level of those who are living best would be equivalent to them having more than four times as much disposable income. In addition, factors like connections with those closest to us are also found to be strong indicators of a life well lived.
We’ve partnered with Oxford Economics and the National Centre for Social Research to create the Living Well Index – the first study of its kind. Researchers asked a nationally representative panel of 8,250 people questions covering 60 different aspects of their behaviour, how they live and how they feel.
We’ve recently conducted a major piece of research to find out what it means to live well in the UK today.
Living Well
Revealing the secrets of
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We need evidence-based policy, with clear objectives and applied across the board, to deliver long-lasting change. While the soft drinks levy targets a single nutrient, this will not be enough to tackle this systematic challenge, unless it is accompanied by other, less-debated measures.
Among these, he suggests, are clear, straightforward labelling and guidelines, and where required, legislation to tighten up on misleading health claims.
Percentage of adults in the UK who are overweight or obese
As CEO, Mike Coupe, puts it,
With around 26 million customer transactions every week, we have a pivotal role to play in helping people choose healthier, more sustainable diets. For the greatest impact, we need action on all fronts – the whole food sector needs to wake up to the challenge.
It’s already estimated to cost the NHS £6 billion a year and the problem is growing. In the UK, a third of children aged 12 to 15 are overweight or obese, and younger generations are becoming obese at earlier stages and staying obese for longer.
More than half of adults in the UK are overweight or obese, increasing their risk of a range of health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer.
obesity crisis
60%
Tackling the
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Helping customers reduce food waste
Cost of obesity to the UK economy
£47bn
We're making our food more nutritious by increasing levels of omega 3 in our salmon and eggs
Cancer Research UK’s prevention expert
Professor Linda Bauld
Obesity is the unpalatable cost of the cheap deals routinely served up in our shops. We’re delighted that Sainsbury’s took a leading role and became the first major grocery retailer to remove multi-buys in stores in 2016. We are working with governments to encourage other retailers to follow their lead.
Our ongoing programme of reformulation, reducing the sugar, salt and saturated fat content of our own-brand products, is focusing on big volume lines like cereals – and we always aim to deliver these ahead of Government targets. We do this work gradually as to change the taste of products too quickly could potentially lead to customers choosing less healthy options.
Multi-buys have also been linked to the rise in obesity – Cancer Research UK has noted that 40% of all calories in Scotland are bought on price promotions such as multi-buy offers.
We made the decision to remove multi-buys and buy-one-get-one-free deals in 2016, based on our customers telling us that these promotions were often confusing and created challenges of additional spend, storage and food waste.
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Children are obese when they leave primary school
Value of sports and cooking equipment and experiences donated to young people since 2005
1 in 5
£173m
Cutting out calories is only part of the challenge
Through our Active Kids scheme, we’ve donated over £170 million worth of sports and cooking equipment and experiences to young people across the UK since 2005. We’re currently working with schools and clubs across the country with the help of ambassadors like Paralympians Ellie Simmonds and Jonnie Peacock, helping children to understand the importance of diet and exercise.
We also need to get better at burning calories up. In light of the fact that by the time children in the UK leave primary school, one in three is overweight and one in five is obese, we’re committed to helping children to lead healthy, active lives.
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Flexitarian
A person who is mainly vegetarian but occasionally eats meat or fish
Vegan
A person who does not eat or use any animal products
Courgetti
Coursagne
Boodles
Swagliatelle
Spaghetti made from courgettes
Lasagne sheets made from courgettes
Noodles made from butternut squash
Sweet potato tagliatelle
Food dictionary
They’ve spurred us to get creative. We’ve been experimenting with reforming vegetables into familiar, easy-to-prepare products – you might have seen our ‘Courgetti’ and ‘Boodles’ alongside cauliflower rice and sweet potato fries. These have also proved really popular, and now we’re adding new varieties like ‘Coursagne’ and ‘Swagliatelle’.
And then there’s the rise of the ‘flexitarians’ – people seeking to reduce the amount of meat and fish they consume, opting for a more plant-based diet for health reasons, environmental concerns or both.
We’ve seen an increase in veganism in our customer base, many of whom are buying our new FreeFrom range which offers dairy-free versions of vegetarian ready meals. We have doubled our allergen-free Deliciously FreeFrom range and customers with specific allergies or intolerances have responded really positively.
More people are seeking healthy, inspiring and sustainable food.
dictionary
The new food
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We’re supporting Peas Please – a ground-breaking new initiative from think tank The Food Foundation – by pledging to play our part to help everyone in the UK eat an extra portion of veg a day
The newest lines in this range, launched earlier in this year, have exceeded sales expectations by 200%
200%
To gather further insights, we’ve signed up as retail partner on a four-year research project with the University of Oxford, funded by the Wellcome Trust, to investigate all aspects of diet, health and the environment. One of the five workstreams is looking at what influences customers to make healthier and more sustainable choices, and how we can support them to make more informed ones. Look out for updates in our next issue…
There’s no doubting their popularity. The newest lines in this range, launched earlier this year, have exceeded sales expectations by 200%. These products also allow us to use more of the vegetable and even include ‘wonky veg’ – so we cut down on food waste – a win-win for health and the environment.
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Percentage of stores with a food donation partner last year
Value of food thrown away every year in the UK
68%
£13bn
Households are the biggest contributor towards the country’s total food waste. Reports from WRAP show that UK homes throw away over 7 million tonnes or £13 billion worth of food (of which 60% is avoidable) – that’s enough to fill Wembley Stadium nine times over. It equates to the average UK family throwing out £700 worth of food each year.
While we continually seek to reduce our operational waste, we are also focused on helping our customers reduce waste in their homes.
We’ve been reducing food waste in our operations through a number of initiatives including, smarter and more tailored forecasting and supply chain efficiency while growing our network of charity partners to redistribute unsold edible food. And for food that’s no longer edible, we use it to generate energy via bio-digesters – our Cannock store is already ‘off grid’, powered by biogas alone.
We’re working with the industry, under the Courtauld Commitment, to cut waste by 20% by 2025. We’re also part of the Champions 12.3 coalition committed to help halve global food waste per capita by 2030, in line with Target 12.3 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Reducing food waste is key for us to improve food security for our communities, reduce demands on the planet as well as reduce costs for us, our suppliers and our customers.
food waste
Thinking differently about
Percentage of customers in the pilot programme who have changed, or plan to change, their behaviour to reduce food waste
64%
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Number of items shared in our 'community fridge' initiative
10,000
Read our Waste less, Save more year one results and analysis
The results were independently evaluated by WRAP and show that the trial has had a positive impact on attitudes and behaviours in relation to household food waste. Some 37% of Swadlincote’s residents recorded an increase in awareness of the amounts and types of food they throw away as a direct result of the campaign.
So if we’re to help make a dent in that, we need to work directly with customers and our communities. That’s the focus of our Waste less, Save more campaign. It draws on lessons from a one-year pilot programme with the residents of Swadlincote in Derbyshire where we initiated trials, ranging from apps that weigh and report on food waste to pioneering school programmes.
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As ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ labels can often be confusing, we’re launching a programme to educate customers and communities on the differences – and that food is still perfectly safe to eat after its ‘best before’ date. We’re also including smart tips for tasty ways to use up food on packs of over 170 ‘high waste’ items, including cheese, herbs, berries and citrus fruit
As a little kitchen creativity can go a long way, we’ll also be partnering with Mumsnet to discover some new ways of using food creatively and turning leftovers into tasty treats.
Our experience with schools in Swadlincote has convinced us of the huge potential to reach kids with inspiring messages. With our ‘Fab Foods’ programme of easy-to-use resource kits for teachers, we're hoping to raise awareness with hundreds of primary and secondary schools.
Tech and behaviour change will come together in a Waste less, Save more-inspired hackathon, to be held at Google’s London HQ in 2018. Drawing on the findings of our Swadlincote trial, and the consumer technology expertise of Google, a team of developers will be charged with uncovering fresh solutions – which could be anything from tech-based interventions or gamifying the waste reduction challenge.
New forms of packaging are at the heart of our approach, including resealable and ‘snap pack’ versions for everything from cheese to nuts, to help make it easy to keep them fresh. We’re trialling a new ‘freshness indicator’ label for packets of ham too: the label will change colour over time after the pack’s been opened, helping to show whether the ham is still safe to eat.
We’re continuing to test and learn through our network of 147 Discovery Communities. These towns and cities – from Edinburgh to Truro – are picking up the baton, tasked with finding their own ways to reduce waste. To get them started, we’ve produced an ‘inspiration guide’ with lessons from Swadlincote and ideas on how to run similar activities. For example, if communities want to emulate the roll-out of fridge thermometers in the town, we’ll advise on the best ways in which they can do this.
Based on these findings our programme for the current year comprises a ten-point plan which focuses on three key elements.
The next phase
Education and inspiration
Tech and tools
Engaging communities
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Waste less, Save more
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Colleagues enrolled or completed their apprenticeship programme by 2020
2,500
Scholar
Euan Alexander
In April 2017, the Government launched the apprenticeship levy and committed to deliver 3 million apprenticeships by 2020. We support this ambition and will continue to invest in the skills of our colleagues across the UK.
We’ve also launched a Sainsbury’s Scholars programme with Imperial College which brings together a specially selected group of young farmers from the livestock, cereal and vegetable sectors. Each young farmer is carrying out a specific research project. These include using cover crops to improve soil productivity in vegetable growing; encouraging worms as a means of restoring soil health; and exploring howsoil conditions can affect the quality of lamb.
With a healthy British farming sector being particularly vital to us and a sustainable supply of home-grown food, we’ve partnered with Reaseheath College for apprenticeships in horticulture and agriculture which offer Level 2 City & Guilds Diplomas.
We deliver high-quality apprenticeships which give colleagues on-the-job skills and training and we offer apprenticeships in areas as varied as management, software development, craft bakers and craft fishmongers. We’re targeting 2,500 colleagues to have enrolled or completed their apprenticeship programme by 2020.
We’ve always seen the benefit of ensuring our colleagues have the right skills and qualifications to support their growth and we continue to develop our own in-house programmes and apprenticeships.
Back in 2011, we committed to investing in the training and development of our colleagues as part of our Sustainability Plan and have offered apprenticeships since 1974. We’re proud to be the only retailer to have achieved three consecutive Gold awards from Investors in People, demonstrating the strength of our learning and development offer.
potential
Fulfilling
The scheme helped highlight just how complex soil is, and how the relationships between its physical, chemical and biological properties [can be] very challenging to manage when it comes to vegetable production. It has provided me with a soil health resource network to call on when required.
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thoughts
Your
Food and money saving tips
Happy, healthy cows
Signing up to the Sustainable Cotton Communique
As we mentioned earlier, we want to make sure you keep up to date on what we’re doing but we also want to hear from you. Tell us what you like, what you don’t like, what you want to hear more about!
Keep up to date with the latest news from across the Group