Tesco sets an example in green practices

The Tesco (www.tesco.com/greenerliving) chain ($63 billion in revenue) sells Britons one quarter of their groceries, among other things. Its CEO, Terry Leahy, announced his firm will halve its energy use within two years. In that period it also intends to reduce all packaging by a quarter. It has launched a "Green Card" that rewards customers for green behaviors; it will dramatically reduce the number of products it moves by air, and will imprint airplane symbols on those that are flown. Perhaps most important, Tesco will develop a system of labels quantifying the life cycle carbon imprint for each of the 70,000 items Tesco carries.

In that regard, the website of the British potato chip ("crisp") company, Walker's (www.walkerscarbonfootpritn.co.uk) may serve as a model, and is well worth a visit. In the US, Frito-Lay also has an effort underway (www.fritolay.com/fl/flstore/cgi-bin/ProdSubEV_Cat_572359_NavRoot_633003.htm).

Source: www.worldbusiness.org