As the week comes to a close, we look back on the top headlines with big stories from supermarkets and liquor giants. Read below what happened this week.
Woolworths opened its most sustainable supermarket at Burwood Brickworks
Supermarket Woolworths opened its “most sustainable supermarket” at the new Burwood Brickworks Shopping Centre, Melbourne. The malls tenants are required to meet the criteria of the Living Building Challenge which is a measure of sustainability for buildings. The new Woolies store will operated entirely on renewable energy, using LED lights to save on electricity. All meat and dairy cases have fridge doors preventing the release of cold air. While the chillers, freezers and hot tap water will have natural refrigerant technology to prevent the release of any direct emissions.
Minister urged Coles to put 20c levy on dairy
Minister for water resources David Littleproud criticised supermarket Coles for not paying farmers enough. Last week, Coles said it will pay dairy cooperative Norco A$5.25 million after the ACCC accused it of not passing on the full 10-cent drought dairy levy to farmers. Littleproud wants shoppers to boycott Coles until it agrees to have a 20-cent drought levy on all dairy products.
Mars and Nestlé partnered on chemical recycling
FMCG brands Nestlé and Mars have teamed up with energy company Total and recycling companies Citeo and Recycling Technologies to create an industrial chemical recycling industry in France. They will try to find solutions to recycle complex plastic waste like food-grade packaging on-recyclable which are currently either incinerated or disposed of in landfills.
ACCC said Asahi-CUB could reduce competition in cider and beer
Australia’s competition watchdog ACCC said it is concerned about the effect of the proposed $16 billion acquisition of Carlton & United Breweries by Japanese beverage giant Asahi. ACCC chair Rod Sims said the deal could reduce competition in the cider and beer markets. If the deal pushes through it will combine Somersby, Strongbow, Mercury and Bulmers cider brands, which makes two thirds of cider sales.
Jayne Hrdlicka stepped down from CEO post at a2 Milk
Jayne Hrdlicka, managing director and CEO of The a2 Milk Company, stepped down this week due to increasing travel pressures. She joined the New Zealand dairy giant in July 2018 but said the job required more travel than she anticipated and made it too difficult to commit to her other roles and family. Former a2Milk CEO Geoffrey Babidge will act as interim CEO effective immediately as the dairy giant search for new candidates.
That’s it for now. Have a good weekend!
