British Retailers Turn Waste Into Power

John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, likely never had an inkling that his culinary invention would revolutionize lunchtime. And it’s certain that he never dreamed that a cheddar ploughmans or an egg and cress would one day serve to heat British homes in wintertime.

Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket chain, along with Marks & Spencer Group, John Lewis Partnership’s Waitrose, Wal-Mart’s Asda unit, and J Sainsbury, are carting off chicken fat, fish heads, and leftover sandwiches to biogas plants for conversion into electricity. For many British retailers, the new waste management dovetails with environmental aims. M&S announced this month that it had achieved its five-year objective of becoming “carbon neutral”—a goal many of its competitors share.