Nature Alert: WAITROSE SUPERMARKETS

Friday, 29 January 2010

WAITROSE SUPERMARKETS

PERSONAL NOTE
At least we see one company working towards a more realistic date of 2012.
Most quote 2015 - though none can explain why 2015 and not 12,13,14!
Last year companies only bought 20% of the available sustainable palm oil on the market.

LETTER BELOW RECEIVED BY A SUPPORTER
FROM WAITROSE SUPERMARKETS
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Thank you for your e-mail.

As a responsible retailer, Waitrose constantly aims to minimise the impact of its operations on the environment and we are keen to see the wide scale implementation of a robust and auditable traceability system for palm oil.

In light of our concerns about the sustainability of palm oil, Waitrose joined the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a global forum that encourages sustainable palm oil production and use, in January 2006 and first put in place a Sustainable Palm Oil Policy and sourcing guidelines for own label suppliers in February 2006. We firmly believe that the work of the RSPO is essential for ensuring that the production and use of palm oil is carried out in a sustainable manner based on economic, social and environmental viability.

Waitrose is committed to the organisation's objectives, and actively contribute to the development of UK markets for sustainable palm oil through the British Retail Consortium Palm Oil Committee.

Waitrose is committed to using only Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) in its own label products by the end of 2012, with an interim target of a quarter of this conversion set for year end 2010.

Currently, around 1,000 Waitrose own label products include very low levels of palm oil (between 0.001 and 4 per cent). As an interim measure, Waitrose will be using Greenpalm, a certificate trading programme for palm oil which is endorsed by the RSPO, while it works through converting its entire range to CSPO.

It is our strict policy to individually name 'palm oil' in our ingredients lists so that our customers can easily identify which of our own label products contain palm oil. For branded products the labelling of ingredients is the responsibility of the brand manufacturers. However, we are committed to sharing best practice and we encourage branded suppliers to apply the same principles and policies as Waitrose. A number of branded manufacturers are members of the RSPO.

For more information about responsible sourcing of palm oil, visit the RSPO website at www.rspo.org and www.greenpalm.org.

Regards,

Tom Leech

Waitrose Customer Service.

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.