Walking doesn't make carbon, some supermarkets are worse than others.

Ocado have put out a leaflet to say that 'Ocado delivery is greener than walking to the supermarket'


Hmmmm,


Right...  they are talking about the comparison between home delivery and walking to the supermarket . And as part of this they are factoring in maintaining a supermarket as a retail environment, that includes heating and lighting, and inefficient use of space.


so it isn't WALKING to the supermarket, it's SUPERMARKETS. They are set out over about an acre of shop floor and they are geared to sell to us with their nice smells. fine. And that works because most people like it! At least they think they do.


Funnily enough I was reading Which? magazines review of supermarkets just now. It rated Aldi and Lidl higher than Tesco, Asda Morrison and Sainsburys in terms of the quality of the food, but says that they lose out on the 'shopping experience'.


Shopping Experience.... I have been shopping at Aldi and Lidl for years and I find the Shopping experience' in the big four to be positively unbearable, they make such a palaver over everything! Whole isles for just one item which, rather than making you feel you have a range to chose the best value product from, there are endless similar options - 9 rolls of loo roll for 3.48 or 12 rolls for 4.89 more sheets thicker sheets..... which ever you pick, you walk away feeling you might have just been ripped off.


In Aldi there is about 3 sorts of toilet roll and instead of taking a whole isle they take up about a metre of space between the washing up liquid and the toilet duck, and it all reasonably prices and god quality!


In fact because there is generally only one sort of each product in Aldi shopping is a lot quicker, and the supermarket is therefore also much smaller and quicker to get around, AND because they have a clever way of using the packaging boxes for the products to also display the products, the interior is very simply laid out and the staff don't have to spend ages stacking shelves. Best of all, as the boxes empty, the customers take them away to pack their shopping into (Aldi and Lidl have always charged for bags).


So really It's a quicker and more pleasant experience once you realise that the big displays and long walks around an enormous store perusing endless brands of the same product is just a waste of your time!


The other thing that the regular 'Big Four' customers struggle with s the high speed checkout, the things you are buying are scanned at such a rate that you can just about get them in the trolley, no-one will leisurely say "shall I pack for you."
But once you get used to the speed, Sainsbury's in unbearably s l o w....


So Aldi and Lidl's basic warehouse style supermarkets with just 4 (but much better paid) staff running the whole shop and better quality products than Tesco is much more environmentally friendly, and with my local one you can combine a trip with a visit to the local Butcher or the market for fruit.


Combining with using local shops and the benefits that brings to the local community and society, I will stick with walking to the supermarket.