Morrisons opens first lower environmental impact store
Morrisons has today opened a lower environmental impact store in Little Clacton as part of its drive to become a more sustainable business.
The new store, which has been built from scratch, incorporates a range of structural features and loose products to reduce carbon emissions, energy and resources – and limit its environmental footprint. The supermarket claims the site will have 43% lower operational emissions than a standard store.
Innovations include 366 loose, plastic-free products, including pasta, coffee, herbs, household cleaning products, health & beauty lines, petfood, bakery and fruit & veg.
The low carbon impact building has next-generation fridges powered by CO2 from agricultural waste, roof solar panels to provide a fifth of energy, rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing, a near zero waste back-of-house system, and facilities to recycle customers’ waste.
In addition to the low-impact design and decreased packaging and waste, the store also offers more locally sourced products, a range of biodiversity schemes, more healthy foods, and extra support to the local community.
The supermarket giant rebuilt its store in Centenary Way, Little Clacton, after the former store suffered major structural problems. The former Safeways store, built in the mid-1990s, suffered from extensive cracking caused by the roots from a nearby belt of mature trees undermining the foundations.
Over 250 local beers, spirits, fruits, vegetables, eggs, pies, breads, jams, teas, sauces, biscuits, and crisps will be supplied from less than 35 miles away, against an average of 50 lines in Morrisons regular stores in the South East.
The retailer noted that all of the store’s initiatives and designs have the potential to be scaled up and introduced across the Morrisons store estate.
“This store is a significant step forward on our sustainability journey,” said David Potts, CEO of Morrisons.
“It brings together all of the environmental and social initiatives we have created that can be rolled out into other stores across the country. It will start to inform the design of many more similar stores to come.”
