Morrisons opens first eco store

Morrisons has opened the doors to a lower environmental impact store in Little Clacton as it continues on its journey to becoming a more sustainable business.

For the first time the new store design incorporates the widest range of the supermarket’s structural features and loose products to reduce carbon emissions, energy and resources – and limit its environmental footprint.

Innovations include 366 loose products, a low carbon impact building, next generation fridges powered by CO2 from agricultural waste, roof solar panels to provide a fifth of energy, rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing, a near zero waste back-of-house system, and facilities to recycle customers’ waste.

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In addition to low impact design and decreased packaging and waste, the store also offers locally sourced products, a range of biodiversity schemes, more nutritious foods, and more support to the local community.

All of the store’s practical initiatives and designs have the genuine potential to be scaled up and introduced across the Morrisons store estate – rather than being one offs.

The store will also house Morrisons widest range of no plastic products – priced the same or less than their standard equivalents allowing customers to half the amount of plastic in their weekly shop, along with a range of local and eco product options.

Morrisons chief executive David Potts said: “This store is a significant step forward on our sustainability journey. It brings together all of the environmental and social initiatives we have created that can be rolled out into other stores across the country. It will start to inform the design of many more similar stores to come.”

The Little Clacton store will have 43% lower operational emissions than a standard store. Aligned with the Government’s plan to increase renewable energy, it will generate its own power and move away from gas.