Do supermarkets have a responsibility to be green/ethical?

SusanCarter

Following discussion in another thread, I would like to pose the question, “Do supermarkets have a responsibility to be green/ethical?”

Some people would argue that supermarkets are only responding to demand and that it is up to the consumer. Others might argue that the supermarkets do not give them the information and range necessary for them to make informed choices.

Firstly I will consider the “response to demand” argument. This is the idea that supermarkets are only stocking what people want. To some extent this is true but that does not remove their responsibility.

For example, pharmacists are allowed by to dispense the morning after pill and doctors are allowed to prescribe it. This is something which some people would consider to be wrong (I will not state my view on the issue as it is just being used as an illustration and I don’t want to get into a debate about it) and therefore some doctors and pharmacists would not want to prescribe/dispense it. Although there is a demand for it, some doctors and pharmacists refuse to prescribe/dispense it because they believe it is wrong and the law makes allowance for them to do so. If a doctor/pharmacist does prescribe/dispense it then they are indicating that they believe there is nothing wrong with it. If someone else tells them it is wrong, they cannot say, “Well I’m just giving it because there is demand for it but really I don’t agree with it.”

In the same way, retailers have a choice about what they stock. They do not have to stock something which they do not agree with just because there is a demand. They have a choice and are responsible for what they stock. However if they stock two items – one green and one not green – and everyone buys the non-green one, surely you cannot hold the retailer responsible? If there is a choice then the customer must have some responsibility?

Secondly, I will consider the argument that the consumer does not have a choice or does not have the information necessary to make a choice. I will use the example of fruit and veg. When I go to the supermarket, I have to expend considerable effort to establish the country of origin of the fruit and veg in order to decide what to buy. In the past people did not have to do this.

Over time gradually more and more things have started coming from abroad and things have stopped being seasonal. As it has happened gradually, we did not notice it happen. Because of this, we did not fight against it by buying more local/seasonal produce as we were not really aware of the change. Now that the change has taken place, it is hard to buy local seasonal produce whereas in the past this is all that would have been available.

As the consumer was for the most part unaware of this change, they cannot really be held responsible. It was the supermarket who made the change by “stealth”. However, we cannot just accept the current situation by sitting back and saying, “I can’t help it, it’s not my fault things changed.” Now that we are aware, we have a responsibility to make the effort to find green/ethical produce ourselves. It is also our responsibility to raise awareness. Through doing this we can change what the supermarkets stock. Apparently children’s clothes manufacturers changed the standards of children’s nightwear because of a campaign where parents asked in the shops about flame retardency of the clothes. This shows that the consumer does have the power to change the supplies available in the shops.

I would therefore consider that both the consumer and the retailer have responsibility. I am sure I have not covered all the possible arguments and counter arguments and it would be interesting to have discussion and see what other people think about this…

pollys

I agree Susan, but what can be done? I suggest that they use some of the billions of pounds profit they make and ensure that all packaging is compostable ie you can chuck it on the compost bin in the garden or have it collected and composted. Sainsburys I believe use some compostable packing for it's organic range (according to sainsburys environment manager on the TV this morning) but she said it was expensive and suppliers couldn't keep up with demand, well if every supermarket had to use it the cost would come down and the firms supplying the plastic packaging would have to start making compostable packaging or go out of business.

Supermarkets should charge for plastic bags, many people would complain at first but they would soon get into the habit of using a shopping bag.

I think it's a shame that many younger shoppers think that the only place to shop is the supermarket. I'm well aware that the supermarkets have put a lot of small local shops out of business and for some the supermarket IS the only place they can shop, but where there still is a choice we should be supporting the local bakers, butchers, greengrocers, post office etc. Our children need to be educated, learn how to cook, be less reliant on readymeals, cooking from scratch drastically reduces the amount of waste produced by a household. Therefore the consumer has a very important role to play, but the supermarkets make it so easy - buy a meal, put in microwave, eat meal, send plastic tray to landfill for a few hundred years.

Yes, the consumer and retailer are both responsible, I don't like the way supermarkets operate so I very rarely shop in one.

Poppy9

I think I heard on the radio last night that the WI are going to start pestering Supermarkets/manufacturers on excess packaging. I try to use as few bags as possible in Tesco's and I refuse to bag up bananas, brocolli, swede etc.

Saw a strange woman today in Tesco. I was dying to ask her why she was picking up 1 pint cartons of milk and putting them in a clear bag (from the veg. counter) and tying a knot in them. She put 3 in her trolley. Everything else in her trolley was bag wrapped too. Wondered what the cashier made of it.

Talking of Chemists. Why when you get a prescription do they insist on putting it in a paper bag? I also ask for no bag, and they always put it in anyway.

pollys

Poppy9 the WI is having an awareness day today re the amount of packaging on supermarket goods. It's made the news! they are also promoting their own reusable shopping bags they cost about £5 not sure where you get them from though.

Poppy9

pollys wrote:

I think it's a shame that many younger shoppers think that the only place to shop is the supermarket.

Sorry that made me laugh. I tend to shop on Monday or Tuesday mornings as I don't work then and I'm always muttering to myself that the place is full of old people who get in the way:D

Ken68

Something on Working Lunch, yesterday I think, Tesco are charging less for UGLY produce.
Still a long way to go to catch up with Lidl half price weeks.

pollys

Sorry Poppy9, what I meant was that many younger shoppers havent been able to experience local speciality shops, the bakers, grocers etc because they all closed when the supermarket opened and took away their business, therefore they only know supermarket shopping.

Contains_Mild_Peril

Poppy9 wrote:

Saw a strange woman today in Tesco. I was dying to ask her why she was picking up 1 pint cartons of milk and putting them in a clear bag (from the veg. counter) and tying a knot in them. She put 3 in her trolley. Everything else in her trolley was bag wrapped too. Wondered what the cashier made of it.

I'm guessing she's probably had a few bad experiences with leaky products, so is either being overcautious or trying to register some sort of protest by bagging everything.

Contains_Mild_Peril

Ken68 wrote:

Something on Working Lunch, yesterday I think, Tesco are charging less for UGLY produce.
Still a long way to go to catch up with Lidl half price weeks.

My local Lidl are doing half price fruit and veg again, yay! I try to choose loose rather than overpacked products.
I heard a similar news story about Waitrose doing "ugly" fruit. I don't know which one started it, but the competitive nature of supermarkets means it's now likely that others will also follow suit.

SusanCarter

pollys wrote:

Supermarkets should charge for plastic bags, many people would complain at first but they would soon get into the habit of using a shopping bag.

I think it's a shame that many younger shoppers think that the only place to shop is the supermarket. I'm well aware that the supermarkets have put a lot of small local shops out of business and for some the supermarket IS the only place they can shop, but where there still is a choice we should be supporting the local bakers, butchers, greengrocers, post office etc. Our children need to be educated, learn how to cook, be less reliant on readymeals, cooking from scratch drastically reduces the amount of waste produced by a household. Therefore the consumer has a very important role to play, but the supermarkets make it so easy - buy a meal, put in microwave, eat meal, send plastic tray to landfill for a few hundred years.

Yes, the consumer and retailer are both responsible, I don't like the way supermarkets operate so I very rarely shop in one.

I like your points and they are very useful.

When I was a child we used to spend what seemed like hours in the fruit and veg shop (which we liked because the staff sometimes gave us treats of a bit of fruit while we were waiting) and my mum even used to get a discount on bananas because she bought so many (I'm one of four and we all ate bananas). We also used to go to the butcher who was also nice and sometimes if he had to go out the back to make mince for us he would let us come and watch (although that probably wouldn't be allowed these days because of health and safety).

The trouble is that these days things like this are less accessible. When I first left home I was out at work from 7 to 5 which meant that I could only go to a fruit and veg shop on a Saturday and then only if I was not out for the day and I couldn't find a butcher. Because of the longer opening hours I did end up doing most of my shopping in supermarkets.

Now I am married and not at work as much (because I'm a supply teacher not because I'm married) I do have more of an option to shop in other places and am trying to do so more (although parking tends to be the problem now as I no longer live in the city centre). So many couples these days seem to both work full time even after they have had children so it's no wonder they don't think they have any other option.

I think the main difficulties with non-supermarket shopping are parking, opening hours and carrying the stuff to the car. (Any suggestions of where I can get a shopping trolley like my grandparents used to use would be welcome!) Our local authority doesn't help by charging extortionate amounts for parking.

In a way I am glad I don't get as much work as I would like as it does give me the leisure to be more green/ethical. Having said that, I did always cook "proper" food even when I worked full time but many of my friends just don't think they are able to do so. They should bring back proper H.E. instead of the stupid stuff we did like comparing methods of peeling an apple.

Maybe we should lobby our MPs to make it easier for people to shop at small local shops. They could subsidise box delivery schemes and put on free basic cookery classes.

Wow I didn't expect this to end up so long!

EDIT: Meant to say that I take carrier bags because our rental contract says that when we put stuff in the wheelie bin it must be in a plastic bag but that is just to save money and I would buy bin bags if carriers weren't free. Don't know whether many other people do that but just thought I'd throw it in.

Ken68

That is why I like Lidl, they charge for plastic bags and don't accept credit card payments.A responsible attitude.
Plus half price veg weeks and half price meat weeks gotta rank high in the supermarket league.
Just have to sort out the salt problem, sugar problem and pesticide problem, and the oap's rushing about problem.... :-))