Tag: co-op

Co-op AGM backs Stop Funding Hate

Stuart Mitchell

96% of the Co-op Group annual general meeting has voted in favour of a motion on responsible advertising. The motion notes “the concern from the United Nations and hate crime experts that some media outlets in the UK are fuelling and legitimising prejudice and an increase in hate crime” and calls on the Board to review existing policy and “prepare an ethical advertising policy that puts controls in place to ensure adverts do not appear in media that are incompatible with co-operative ethics, values and principles”. The member motion was…

Read More

Co-op bins waste – not food – by taking products off sale to donate to community groups

Stuart Mitchell

The Co-op is to bin last minute sales to avoid food going to waste. A new first-of-its-kind national food redistribution scheme has been rolled out. It will donate fresh food as well as other products, such as bakery items, within use-by and best-before dates to thousands of small community groups to make healthy dishes. The Co-op plans to call time on food waste with its innovative food redistribution scheme, called Co-op Food Share, which will take products off sale earlier to get fresh food within its use-by date to charities…

Read More

Co-op set to be first in its “field” as it launches reverse vending machines at UK summer festivals

Stuart Mitchell

Co-op will become the first UK retailer to launch a deposit and return scheme (DRS) trial with reverse vending machines, as part of its commitment to increase recycling and reduce marine pollution. The landmark pilot initiative will see the DRS unveiled at a pop-up Co-op store at four major music festivals this summer. The reverse vending machines will be installed on-site at Co-op pop-up stores at Download (8-10 June), Latitude (12-15 July) and Reading and Leeds festivals (24-26 August). The move has been facilitated through a partnership with Festival Republic.…

Read More

UK firms set to create 300 jobs for victims of modern slavery

Stuart Mitchell

Some of the UK’s leading businesses, led by the Co-op, are set to create up to 300 jobs for the victims of modern slavery by 2020. Up to 20 large firms, from various sectors of the economy, are on the verge of signing up to an innovative employment programme called Bright Future, devised by the Co-op, in conjunction with City Hearts, to provide work for people rescued from enslavement. The companies joining the scheme will work hand in hand with a network of local charities in order to put survivors…

Read More

Co-op “tests the water” offering ethically-conscious shoppers a “clear” alternative

Stuart Mitchell

The Co-op has unveiled plans to switch all of its bottled water to 50% recycled plastic (rPET) in a move which is set to test whether today’s environmentally-conscious consumer is ready to ditch more aesthetically pleasing packaging. The bottles – themselves 100% recyclable and sourced in the UK – do appear darker, greyer and cloudier than those using less or no recycled plastic, and so the community retailer will “test the water”, throwing down the gauntlet to gauge whether ethical consumers will turn the traditional psychology of shopping on its…

Read More