Ocado just don't get it do they?

'We're reducing our footprint', Ocado announce on 20 February, explaining how new plastic shoe covers will prevent their delivery personnel from leaving dirty footprints on customers' carpets. Apparently Ocado are oblivious to the irony that these disposable items will add to their own carbon footprint.

One week later, 28 February and Ocado declare 'We've got a handle on our carrier bags'. The 'first retailer in the UK to collect, recycle and remake its own carrier bags' has missed the point again. These bags are now 100% biodegradable. But what use is that if they're being recycled or if more realistically, the majority of them end up in landfill where, as the bags rot, they'll give off methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than CO2?

"Greening up your act can be very simple if you take advice," says Biba Hartigan of Women's Environmental Network. "But the reluctance of companies to consult environmental experts results in too many wasteful exercises. Even basic common sense seems to be in short supply. Slip on shoes which can be kicked off at the door of house-proud customers are an environmentally friendly alternative to wasteful disposable shoe covers and what's wrong with a returnable delivery box?"

For further information contact:

Biba Hartigan, Communications Officer, Women's Environmental Network PO Box 30626 London E1 1TZ
t: 020 7481 9004 f: 020 7481 9144 e: comms@wen.org.uk