Carrefour

Carrefour claims that sustainable development is at the centre of Carrefour’s policy. They focus on solidarity, health and the environment.

The supermarket is the third largest in the Belgian market. They promote clear labelling on their ecological packaging to encourage customers to make responsible choices. They also have sustainable agreements with farmers and local suppliers. Now, I’m aware of the type of agreements that Tesco has with their suppliers, and I don’t know if Carrefour is as aggressive as Tesco is, but the mention of this makes me a bit cautious. Carrefour participates in diverse initiatives such as World Environment Day, Sustainable Development Week and Fair Trade Week.

Carrefour promotes local products, which also responds to customers needs. Belgian products have a ‘B’ on a black, red and yellow background, a Belgian flag or a regional indication. You can find out more on these links (in French or Dutch).

• www.vlam.be
• www.www.fromagesbelges.be
• www.streekproduct.be.

To give them their dues, Carrefour seem to be making an effort regarding local products. According to their website:

• 90% of the meat at Carrefour Hyper, GB and Express is Belgian in origin.
• 85% of the in-season fruit and veg are Belgian
• Almost all the Carrefour milk is from Belgian cows.
• 75% of the delicatessen meat is Belgian.
• Up to 95% of the bread sold is made in Belgium.

Carrefour Belgium has concluded 18 quality engagements with local Belgian suppliers, mainly for asparagus, endives and meat.

The supermarket has a large organic offering, covering textiles, body care and food. They also have a range of Fair Trade foods, as well as Max Havelaar labelled goods. You can see what the labels look like here. The Fairtrade and Max Havelaar labels mean that the product was bought from farming cooperatives or plantations in developing countries at a fair price that respect the international Fairtrade conditions.

They are also doing their bit to make their shops more sustainable by managing CO₂ emissions and reducing the amount they throw away.

This environmental awareness extends of course from the beginning to the end of the production process. Carrefour makes an effort to reduce packaging, find ecological alternatives and reduce CO₂ emissions in its transportation chain. They have had a traceability procedure in place since 1991.

Carrefour has an extensive scheme in place to help out disadvantaged people in society. But I’ll cover this in a later post.

So, energy consumption… ‘Going green’ is a Carrefour Belgium initiative. They take the attitude of a few small changes make a big difference. They aim to reduce up to 30% of their energy. One of the measures induced is putting doors in front of their fresh food section (yogurts and milk and frozen food sections).

A couple of stores have been singled out for pilot projects. The hypermarkets in Waterloo and Maasmechelen are testing energy reducing initiatives. A similar scheme is in place in Eghezée, which may be rolled out across the country. The store in Remouchamps near Liège stores the heat produced by its refrigeration processes and uses this heat to heat the store. 

Carrefour seem to be taking their environmental responsibilities pretty seriously and are doing a decent job of offering customers reasonably sustainable food and shops. Of the three chains I've looked at, both it and Colruyt get the thumbs up from me.