Operational Waste
We hate waste of any kind.
Reducing our operational waste is a key part of our Zero Waste strategy to reduce our impact on our environment and to increase operational efficiency. In 2023, operational waste redistribution stood at 86.7%.
We focus on three areas: reduction, redistribution and repurpose. We use a range of methods to keep waste from landfills, including: reuse/ repurpose /recycling; anaerobic digestion; incineration with energy recovery; donations to charities; re-sell/liquidation; animal food production, composting and thermal incineration.
Diverting waste from landfills means less greenhouse gas emissions and less soil and water pollution. Recycling or repurposing existing materials also creates less need to extract and produce new materials.
Polystyrene packing from our stores is now compacted into briquettes for recycling and reuse.
The largest type of waste we handle at our sites comes from the secondary or transit packaging on the goods we sell. All our cardboard and plastic film is sorted at the back of each store and returned to one of our nine Asda Service Centres around the UK. There, materials are further separated and baled ready for recycling by our waste service providers. The cardboard is most likely to return to Asda as a new cardboard box, and the plastic film is segregated by polymer type and some of it returns for a second life as an Asda Bag For Life.
