British retailer Waitrose on Thursday announced a pledge to source all its seafood from independently certified sources by the end of 2016.
Waitrose called the move a natural evolution of its 15-year-old responsible fishing policy. The move builds on Waitrose’s responsible fish sourcing policy, established 15 years ago.
The first major change will be all Waitrose fish, smoked and breaded cod and haddock, which from 6 May will be certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council.
The announcement is one of 12 CSR pledges launching publicly as the Waitrose Way Commitments. The commitments span the four “Waitrose Way” CSR pillars: Treading Lightly, Championing British, Treating People Fairly and Living Well, and consolidate the retailer's responsibility work in to one place - setting clear targets for the business to achieve.
“These pledges by no means cover everything we’re up to. But when we spoke to customers these 12 areas are what people said really mattered most,” said Quentin Clark, head if sustainability and ethical sourcing. “As a nation we’re getting busier, and lack of time means we need to be able to trust the retailer we are using. So when creating these pledges we made sure the emphasis was on how we’re being part of the solution, not and in the future — we want it to be really easy for our customers to know we’re doing the right thing.”
