Hurrah for Andrew Thornton of Budgens

I’m not sure at what point Andrew Thornton, the owner of the Belsize Park Budgens franchise, “got it”, but as soon as he did dramatic change became possible at his supermarket. As a result of working with Transition Belsize his stores now:

• Sell over 1,500 local food lines (sourced within 100 miles of the store) out of 10,000
• Send its food waste to be turned into biogas and then electricity
• Put only 6% of total waste into landfill
• Have recycling bins at the till for excess packaging
• Offer excess packaging, mobile phone and cartridge recycling facilities
• Cover its fridges and freezers at night to save energy
• Have a sustainable fish policy using a traffic light coding system
• Use 70% fewer plastic bags than in 2008 and have introduced a charge of 2p for “single use” carrier bags to reduce usage further
• Offer bicycle deliveries to those who live within two miles of the store, both for food if they spend more than £25 in his shop and for moving general stuff around for a £5 charge

In addition Andrew has always said that he will sell any food that Transition Belsize can produce and will help with packaging it if need be. And now, his piece de resistance, he's opened up the roof of his Crouch End store to community groups wishing to grow food which he will then sell in the store. It's called Food from the Sky and it's an absolutely wonderful project so hurrah for Andrew Thornton (pictured below enjoying a picnic on the roof in Crouch End).