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COMMITMENT
TACKLING WASTAGE
EVERYBODY IS INVOLVED
Carrefour has adopted a multi-year plan to tackle
all forms of wastage. The plan involves recovering waste,
implementing energy saving schemes, optimising
delivery runs, making donations to associations, raising
customers’ and employees’ awareness,
reducing the amount of packaging used, etc.
Carrefour has decided to implement a global
plan to tackle wastage. In particular, the
programme sets out to ensure that Carrefour
makes efficient use of resources. It is also an
opportunity for the Group to generate value
and to innovate alongside its various internal
and external stakeholders.
INVOLVING SUPPLIERS
IN THE INITIATIVE
Carrefour works with its suppliers on extend-
ing best-before dates and optimum use-by
dates for products, provided their quality is
not affected. In some cases, the optimum
use-by dates have even been removed al-
together for certain foodstuffs for which
they were not relevant. The initiative is
consistent with the principles of the
“Pacte
national de lutte contre le gaspillage alimen-
taire”
(National pact to combat food waste)
that was signed with the French Ministry of
Agriculture, Food and Forests in June 2013.
STREAMLINING
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
Carrefour has stepped up its efforts to identify
areas in which investments could be made
in order to reduce its energy consumption,
such as installing the very latest equipment:
low-energy lighting, closed refrigeration
units, natural fluids in store refrigeration
systems, insulated walls and roofs, etc. In
2013, Carrefour succeeded in reducing
energy consumption per square metre of
sales area (electricity, fuel, gas) in its stores
by 28.6% compared with 2004.
REDUCING PACKAGING WASTE
The Group is striving to reduce the pack-
aging used in its Carrefour brand products at
source, as well as all additional packaging
used in transportation. Cardboard boxes
and crates for shipping merchandise are
gradually being replaced by reusable plastic
trays. In fifteen years, Carrefour has reduced
theweight of packaging that it uses for itsprod-
ucts by 20,000 tonnes in France.
RAISING CUSTOMER AWARENESS
AND PROVIDING CONCRETE
SOLUTIONS
Carrefour is striving to provide its customers
with concrete solutions for tackling waste,
tailoring its offer by proposing goods sold
loose, putting short sell-by date products on
special offer, and telling customers about
best practices and habits for reducing waste
on a daily basis. Other projects include a
website,
“Tous conso malins”
(Clever con-
sumers) in France, campaigns designed to
encourage responsible behaviour, such
as “Spend less, protect more”, “Green life,
smart shopping” in China and the creation of
recyclablewaste collection points inRomania
and Argentina.
INTRODUCING AND PROMOTING
WASTE REDUCTION ACTIONS
IN STORES AND OFFICES
Carrefour deploys awareness and internal
commitment campaigns designed to tackle
waste in all of its entities. The campaign’s
symbol is a bee, which embodies the
responsibility of an entire community and a
balancedecosystem, and it involvesnumerous
concrete initiatives designed to encourage
all employees to take steps to combat waste
in their day-to-day lives. These include recycling
and recovering waste, as well as saving
paper, water, energy, etc.
REDUCING UNSOLD STOCK
AND PARTNERING
WITH AID ORGANISATIONS
To improve the efficiency of stores and avoid
unsold stock, “anti-waste coaches” have
provided stores in France with support, iden-
tifying and spreading examples of best
practices. At the same time, the stores work
with a vast network of associations and so-
cial grocery stores to which they distribute
products that have not been sold but which
are still perfectly edible, helping the most
needy in the process. In 2013, Carrefour
donated the equivalent of 68 million meals
to food aid organisations in France.
OPTIMISING SUPPLY FLOWS
In 2013, the Group continued with its efforts
to improve the efficacy of its supply chain.
One of its projects included setting up shared
warehouses for European suppliers, resulting
in an average reduction of 15% to 20% in
the number of kilometres travelled.