Sainsbury's announces landfill reduction programme

Supermarket giant Sainsbury's has announced that it plans to cut the amount of waste it sends to landfill sites by establishing its own food recycling plants.

The firm hopes to become the UK's first supermarket to entirely manage its own waste with the £9 million proposal to establish five anaerobic digestion plants and reduce the amount of waste it sends to landfill to zero by late 2009.

Food recycling specialist Biogen Greenfinch is working jointly with Sainsbury's to realise the plans, which could save the supermarket millions of pounds annually, reported the Independent.

Head of Sainsbury's environmental action team Lawrence Christensen said: "These sites will become profit centres. The waste to landfill costs about £7m a year. In addition to the environmental impact, there is a big capital cost to the company."

This new comes after the Local Government Association last month called for a reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfill sites in the UK.