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Environment Report 2003

Property & Store operations

reducing environmental impact
Building site - the Group wants to develop, design and operate its stores to reduce their environmental impact while achieving customer satisfaction and business growth.
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  • Goal: Develop, design and operate our stores and distribution centres to reduce their environmental impact while achieving customer satisfaction and business growth.

    Design and siting of the Group's supermarkets reflects customers' shopping patterns and follows the Government's planning policy.

    The Group wants to develop, design and operate its stores to reduce their environmental impact while achieving customer satisfaction and business growth.

    Property Programme

    Sainsbury's Supermarkets has the greatest number of stores in the Group. It builds a number of new stores every year, and also have a major extension and refurbishment programme. Design, construction and operation of stores have a number of environmental impacts; the company has an Environmental Forum in which best practice is discussed for evaluation and potential implementation. We have worked this year on the new BREEAM rating system by using the Greenwich store against the draft rating system.

    Refrigeration

    • Sainsbury's Supermarkets stores are gradually converting to ozone benign HFCs whilst seeking opportunities on cost effective ozone and global warming benign refrigerants that are safe to use in public places. Propylene (an ozone and global warming benign refrigerant) is being trialled in the company's Greenwich store.

    • New depots are providing increasing opportunities to use ammonia, another ozone and global warming benign refrigerant.

    'The Group wants to develop, design and operate its stores to reduce their environmental impact while achieving customer satisfaction and business growth.'
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    Refrigerant volume held in Sainsbury's Supermarkets and Shaw's stores
    (Total tonnes of refrigerant)

    Refrigerant volume held in Sainsbury's Supermarkets and Shaw's stores (Total tonnes of refrigerant)
    Shaw's CFC Shaw's CFC
    Shaw's HCFC Shaw's HCFC
    Shaw's HFC Shaw's HFC
    Sainsbury's CFC Sainsbury's CFC
    Sainsbury's HCFC Sainsbury's HCFC
    Sainsbury's HFC Sainsbury's HFC
    Sainsbury's Ozone/Global Warming Benign Sainsbury's Ozone/Global Warming Benign

    Notes to Graph:

    Sainsbury's Supermarkets data:

    • The data are for "entrained volume" i.e. the amount held in the store refrigeration system.
    • Horsham ammonia system replaced with HFC in 2002.

    Refrigerant classification (in descending order of quantity):

    • HCFC: R22, R408a, R409a, R401b, R403b, R401a.
    • HFC: R404a, R134a, R407c, R407a.
    • Ozone & global warming benign: HC Propylene R1270.
    • CFC: R502, R12.

    Shaw's data:

    • Data are compiled from 3rd party evidence and estimates of system charge. Approximately 50% of data are estimated.
    • The data for 1999/2000 do not include Star Market stores purchased in November 1999, but do so for 2000/01. The data for 2000/01 do not include Grand Union stores.
    • Data are reported for the year ended 28 February 2002.
    • An over-reporting error on CFC for 2000/01 has been corrected. This has not been the subject of independent external review.
    • For U.S. data purposes, 1 ton equals 2000 lbs.

    Refrigerant classification (in descending order of quantity):

    • HFC: R507, R404a, R407a, R134a.
    • HCFC: R22, R401a, R402a, R408a, R409a.
    • CFC: R502, R12.

    Refrigerant volume held in Sainsbury's and Shaw's depots
    (Total tonnes of refrigerant)

    Refrigerant volume held in Sainsbury's and Shaw's depots (Total tonnes of refrigerant)
    Shaw's HCFC Shaw's HCFC
    Shaw's Ozone Benign Shaw's Ozone Benign
    Sainsbury's HCFC Sainsbury's HCFC
    Sainsbury's HFC Sainsbury's HFC
    Sainsbury's Ozone/Global Warming Benign Sainsbury's Ozone/Global Warming Benign

    Notes to Graph:

    Sainsbury's Supermarkets data

    Refrigerant classification

    • HCFC: R22; Ammonia: R717; HFC: R404a, R407c.

    Shaw's stores data

    • HCFC: R22; Ammonia: R717.
    • For U.S. data purposes, 1 ton equals 2000 lbs.

    Performance Overview

    Sainsbury's Supermarkets Performance

    We have continued to increase our use of ozone-benign refrigerants again during the year and the proportion of these gases in use in our systems has risen from 41.4% to 44.3%. Total refrigerant use continues to increase as we build more stores or extend and refurbish existing ones. In our new depot refrigeration systems we are specifying ammonia, which is both ozone and global warming benign, in accordance with best practice for such large-scale systems. These have the advantage that they also require less refrigerant than more traditional systems, thus allowing the use of smaller pumps and giving greater energy efficiency.

    Shaw's Performance

    We have continued to refurbish the refrigeration systems in our stores this year, particularly to replace old systems still containing CFCs. We expect to have replaced all CFC systems with either HCFCs or HFCs by the end of 2003. We continue to install refrigerant leak detection equipment in all locations as part of our Master Development Plan, to date 150 locations have those systems operating.

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