Asda calls on rivals to collaborate on environment

Wal-Mart Super Center is seen in this file photo in Lebanon, Tennessee, June 14. Asda, the British supermarket group owned by Wal-Mart Stores, has said the industry needs to put aside some of its ''cut-throat'' competitiveness and collaborate to drive sustainability.

LONDON (Reuters) - Asda, the British supermarket group owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N), has said the industry needs to put aside some of its "cut-throat" competitiveness and collaborate to drive sustainability.

"There's lot of stuff being done, but it is still too competitive," Asda Chief Operating Officer David Cheesewright said at the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit in London.

"There is a huge opportunity for the sector to cooperate."

Britain's retailers have launched extensive "green" initiatives in the past year, but their self-imposed targets for recycling and sustainability have met with skepticism from some groups who say their goal is promotion and not a genuine attempt to help customers and the environment.

Tesco (TSCO.L), where a third of Britons buy groceries, has pledged 500 million pounds to "green" initiatives while Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) has a 200 million pounds carbon neutral plan.

Asda during the next year aims to cut the amount of packaging used on its own label food and non-food by 25 percent. It is part of Wal-Mart's $500 million a year investment in green technology and research.

Cheesewright said limiting retailers' impact on the environment -- from production to sales -- would have a far greater impact if rivals collaborated on areas such as delivery by sharing road transport and distribution centers.

Asda, which has 16 percent of Britain's grocery market, suggested international food and grocery bodies IGD and CIES could work as industry mediators to get retailers to share technologies and ideas.

However, evidence of teamwork in the fiercely competitive retail industry is scant.

British consumers are still struggling to understand two types of nutrition labeling aimed at combating obesity after industry giants including Tesco, Cadbury Schweppes and Coca Cola snubbed a government-backed initiative and launched a rival scheme.

Hanna Ben-Shabbat, a vice president at consulting firm AT Kearney who specializes in the retail industry, agreed it was very difficult to see supermarket owners working together but said a framework was needed to regulate sustainability claims.

"Generally speaking there should be collaboration and discussion among retailers who define issues in a more accurate way. There's a lot of hype about it," she told Reuters.