Newbury community joins for tree planting

Newbury community joins for tree planting

             

Colleagues and customers gathered today to plant a British birch sapling at Sainsbury’s Newbury store.  Planted by Richard Benyon MP, local charity – West Berkshire Cruse Bereavement Care and Newbury based gardener Steve Johnson. The tree marks renovation at the store, and the retailer’s 10 year partnership with the charity Woodland Trust.

A silver birch tree was planted at 10am on Friday 16^th January at the side of the store.  The store has been undergoing work to install a Ground Source Heat Pump.  This is part of Sainsbury’s long term commitment to reduce operational carbon emissions by 30% (absolute) by 2020 compared to 2005.

The planting was supported by volunteers from the store’s Local Charity Partner, West Berkshire Cruse Bereavement Care as well as the store manager Dene Burton and HR manager Coral Courtnell.  It will be one of the millions of trees that Sainsbury’s is helping to plant as part of Woodland Trust’s Centenary Woods project.  Sainsbury’s is marking its ten year partnership with the Woodland Trust by supporting the charity’s commemorative First World War Centenary Woods project. Customers who buy Sainsbury’s Woodland free range eggs, chicken and turkey will not only be buying higher welfare produce – they will be helping to create four lasting memorial woodlands for those affected by the Great War across the UK.

Newbury MP Richard Benyon stayed at the store for the remainder of the morning after the planting to conduct a surgery for shoppers.

Dene Burton, Sainsbury’s Newbury store manager said: “Today is a proud moment for our store and the team involved.  Not only have we completed improvements on our store which will help us to be more efficient while serving our local customers but we’ve done something great for our environment by planting a Woodland Trust tree at the store.”

MP for Newbury Richard Benyon said: “I am delighted to be able to support Sainsbury’s partnership with the Woodland Trust. As the former minister responsible for the environment, I understand what a vital role woodland plays. Planting trees expands habitats, whilst providing a more aesthetically pleasing environment for us all.”

A Ground Source Heat Pump improves the efficiency of recovering heat from the store.  This is part of Sainsbury’s long term commitment to reduce operational carbon emissions by 30% (absolute) by 2020 compared to 2005.

Paul Crewe Sainsbury’s Head of Sustainability, Energy and Engineering said: “As part of our ongoing, multi-million pound investment in green technology across our estate, this exciting development at our Newbury store demonstrates our ongoing commitment to respect for the environment. The benefits include carbon dioxide savings of close to 600 tonnes per annum.”

During the winter months the system improves efficiency by recovering waste heat from the refrigeration systems and using it to provide heating and hot water to the store. Any additional heat energy required is extracted from the ground surrounding the store. As the weather warms up the waste heat will be removed from our in-store refrigeration systems by the heat pump and after generating hot water, any heat remaining will be rejected to the ground. Here it will effectively be stored until next winter when it can be put to good use.