In the UK, many high street supermarkets such as Tesco and Morrisons have their own ‘community champions’, who work with communities in local areas. Some have also set up in-store collection points for donations to local food banks (Tesco) and donate surplus food to charities (Sainsbury’s, Asda and Aldi) or convert it into energy through anaerobic digestion (Aldi). Others (Marks and Spencer) have set up clothes recycling initiatives.
In terms of energy, some supermarkets have installed solar panels (Aldi) or reduced energy use and set up ‘green champions’ in stores (Asda).
Most retailers raise money for local charities and make donations to local causes; Morrisons, for example, donated £18m worth of gardening equipment to over 21,000 schools through its Let’s Grow programme.
There is also a lot of international work. When shoppers buy a school uniform from Tesco, another is donated to a child in the area where the uniform was made, while M&S’s Global Community Programme provides support and leadership training to people where products are sourced, including the UK, Asia and Africa.
Read more … Concern for the community: find out how co-operatives perform in the Community Impact Index: www.thenews.coop/impact
