Marks & Spencer (M&S) today reports on the half-year progress of Plan A, M&S' eco and ethical programme.
105 of the 180 commitments have now been achieved with a further 18 on course to be completed by April 2012.
Richard Gillies, Director of Plan A, CSR and Sustainable Business, said: “Plan A continues to deliver a more sustainable M&S. It's helping our stores become more energy efficient, our lorries use less fuel, our supply chain become greener and more resilient and it enables us to trade ethically around the world. We're also saving money, so it's good for business, and it's good for customers, who are getting involved in huge numbers through campaigns like Forever Fish and hanger recycling for UNICEF. We're pleased with progress so far, but recognise there's still much more to do.”
Latest Plan A news
- First two ‘Ethical Excellence' factories announced;
- First overseas sustainability store to open in India;
- http://www.school-of-fish.co.uk/ launches;
- Dual fuel truck technology being trialled;
- Water saving technology installed in 300 stores
M&S has awarded its first two factory ‘Ethical Excellence' awards – a denim factory in Bangladesh and a woven fabrics unit in Indonesia. Ethical excellent factories offer world class working conditions, better productivity, excellent industrial relations, a developed education and training programme and pay amongst the best salaries in the industry. Products made at these factories now carry a Plan A Attribute, which means large volumes of jeans and women's clothing will become Plan A products when they hit stores next year.
M&S' first overseas sustainable learning store opened this month in Bangalore, India. The 20,000 sq ft clothing, home and gifts store features energy efficient lighting (uses 15 per cent less energy), energy efficient air conditioning, water saving technology and high levels of construction waste has been recycled. The store is aiming for a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – the US Building Green Council's environmental rating system) rating of Silver and is one of the few retail outlets in India that has applied for a LEED rating. It is located in the Market City Mall and is M&S' 23rd store in India. Marks & Spencer India is a joint-venture business run with Indian retailer Reliance Retail.
As part of its Forever Fish campaign M&S has launched http://www.school-of-fish.co.uk/, an interactive website, social space and educational resource for kids and parents to learn more about fish and our oceans. Fronted by former Blue Peter presenter Andy Akinwolere and guest CBBC presenter and marine biologist ‘Blowfish', the site aims to better educate the next generation about this crucial resource.
M&S has added five dual fuel trucks to its distribution fleet. The technology has the potential to significantly cut CO2 emissions from M&S' distribution operations and the vehicles' performance will be monitored over the next six months to assess the viability of a roll out across the fleet. The Mercedes-Benz trucks have been modified by Nottingham-based Hardstaff Group and run using Compressed Natural Gas and regular diesel which reduces emissions while maintaining diesel-engine levels of performance. They are being used on delivery routes in to stores in the North West and are based at the M&S distribution centre in Crewe.
M&S is installing Water Saving Technology in over 300 stores in the next twelve months. Measures include sensor taps, flush valves and urinal controls which will significantly reduce water usage and bills. The current seven store trial of waterless urinals will also be increased by a further 20 stores following encouraging early results.
Highlights from the past six months from each of the Plan A areas
Involving our customers in Plan A
The past six months has seen the launch of two new, major Plan A customer initiatives; the third, and most successful, One Day Wardrobe Clearout; and 34,000 M&S customers getting involved in the Big Butterfly Count 2011.
In June M&S launched Forever Fish – a major campaign to help customers and their children learn more about fish, clean our British beaches and protect marine life.
Funded by the profits from the 5p carrier bag charge at M&S Food halls, over the next three years M&S will: set-up and run School of Fish; encourage as many of M&S' 21 million customers and 78,000 employees as possible to help the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) clean British beaches; invest over £1 million in WWF projects that help better manage UK fish stocks and protect the world's oceans; and help customers make healthy and more sustainable choices by promoting more high quality, sustainably-sourced fish and introducing lesser known and more plentiful species such as Dab and Flounder.
In July M&S announced a new partnership with UNICEF to transform the lives of the world's poorest children. M&S is asking customers not to take a hanger home when they buy clothes and will instead donate 50p for every £1 saved from hanger recycling to UNICEF, the world's leading children's organisation. The aim is to raise at least £1.9million over the next three years to fund a critical new project in two locations within the Mymensingh and Dhaka regions of Bangladesh, providing all the basics children need for a better future, such as clean water, education and healthcare.
On Thursday 8th September, M&S customers donated over 400,000 used and unwanted items of clothing to Oxfam at M&S stores up and down the country for the third One Day Wardrobe Clearout. It took the total of items of clothing donated to the M&S Oxfam Clothes Exchange to over 10 million, which is worth an estimated £8 million to Oxfam, helping the charity fund vital work in the UK and abroad and encouraging customers into our stores.
34,000 customers took part in this year's Big Butterfly Count which tracks UK butterfly numbers and helps raise awareness about how important butterflies are to the environment. The count is organised by Butterfly Conservation and sponsored by M&S. This year was a record in terms of participation (twice as many as last year) and over 322,000 butterflies were recorded.
Make Plan A how we do business
M&S opened its greenest ever store in April on Ecclesall Road in Sheffield and its most carbon efficient store to date at the new Westfield Stratford City centre in September. Ecclesall Road is a Simply Food store that uses 30 per cent less energy than similar sized stores and features an LED screen giving real time public transport information, electric car charging points and a green living wall to attract wildlife. All the bricks used in the build were reclaimed from a local mill.
Stratford City store features sun pipes that provide natural light to staff areas. The Foodhall uses a hydrocarbon refrigeration system which has a significantly reduced environmental impact compared to standard refrigeration systems, and 100 per cent of the store's construction waste was recycled.
April saw M&S launch the world's first carbon neutral lingerie and a carbon neutral chocolate bar. Both have proved extremely popular with customers and to-date (April to September) M&S stores have sold over 130,000 carbon neutral bras and pairs of knickers and 35,000 carbon neutral chocolate bars.
Climate Change (making our operations carbon neutral and helping our customers and suppliers cut their emissions too)
M&S recently awarded ‘Eco Factory Status' to four supplier factories in the UK: the Hallmark card factory in Bradford; two Acheson and Acheson beauty factories in Trowbridge; and Courtaulds' West Mill tights factory in Belper.
M&S eco factories send less waste to landfill and typically use significantly less water and energy compared to factories of a comparable size. For example, over the past five years, Courtaulds' West Mill factory has delivered significant cost and environmental efficiencies through:
- 50% reduction in energy consumption (KWH/product);
- 20% reduction in water consumption (litres/product) and;
- 100% reduction in waste to landfill.
M&S offices in the UK and across the world (including Hong Kong, Turkey and India) are now using new, improved high definition video conferencing facilities for meetings, product reviews and colleague briefings. The roll out across 20 locations worldwide follows a successful trial earlier this year which significantly reduced unnecessary business travel and improved business efficiency.
Waste (stop sending waste to landfill and reduce our use of packaging and carrier bags)
100 per cent of M&S food waste is now recycled, 89 per cent of which is now being sent to anaerobic digestion, a process that turns food waste into energy, preventing it from going to landfill and generating green electricity.
M&S is expected to save over a million printed payslips over the next 12 months after moving to a paperless payslip system. All 78,000 M&S employees now have the option to receive their payslips electronically.
Natural resources (ensuring that our key raw materials come from the most sustainable sources available to us)
In August M&S announced two major projects to help protect some of the key natural resources in M&S products.
The first was a deal with supply chain traceability specialist Historic Futures that will give M&S full “raw material to store” traceability on every single clothing and home product it sells. Historic Futures will work with M&S to phase in the use of its traceability service ‘String', making it possible for M&S to collect information from the extended supply-chain, describing where and how every product is made, including the source of the raw materials such as cotton and wool. The system is already being used by the M&S kidswear team and will be rolled out to all other departments by 2015.
The second was phase two of M&S' ‘Better Cotton' project in Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, India which aims to deliver an extra 21,000 tonnes of ‘Better Cotton' fibre (cotton that uses less water and less fertiliser while creating more income for farmers) and help improve the lives of 20,000 farmers and their families over the next three and a half years. Cotton from the Warangal project will be used in a wide range of M&S products across menswear, ladieswear, kidswear and homewear ranges later this year.
Fair partnership (improving the lives of thousands of people working in our supply chains and living in our local communities)
M&S is partnering with the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity to fund ground breaking new research into children's stomach disorders. M&S is donating £500,000, which will help to pay for a new gastroenterology research unit at the hospital. The Gastroenterology department is one of the UK's leading centres of excellence in treating complex diseases affecting the stomach and other associated organs (such as the pancreas).
Health and wellbeing (help our customers and our employees choose healthier lifestyles)
M&S continues to push the boundaries in product innovation so that it can put more healthy and nutritious products in stores.
Last month M&S introduced two new industry-first healthier products – ‘Healthier' Milk and Beneforte Broccoli. ‘Healthier' milk offers customers naturally lower fat milk and will see up to 84 tonnes of saturated fat cut from customer diets per year, while also improving the health and welfare of dairy cows. The milk is the result of an extensive trial involving a team of experts at Reading University, select M&S farmers and consumer research.
Beneforté™ Broccoli is a new, improved broccoli that contains high levels of health-giving nutrient glucoraphanin. It contains two to three times more glucoraphanin than standard broccoli which, research suggests, may protect the body against heart disease and some types of cancer.
The broccoli has been developed by scientists at the Institute of Food Research (IFR) and John Innes Centre, both based in Norwich and is exclusively available at M&S until March next year.
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Further information
Daniel Himsworth, Marks & Spencer Corporate Press Office
0208 718 1618 / daniel.himsworth@marks-and-spencer.com
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