The environmental cost of popular retailer sandwiches
In a world where being carbon neutral is becoming more of a priority to both businesses and consumers, people are making a conscious effort to be more environmentally friendly. However, one area that tends to be overlooked is the common lunchtime favourite – the sandwich.
For many hungry office workers, using their lunch hour to quickly purchase a sandwich from a nearby shop is a common part of their day. However, according to NerdWallet’s research into sandwiches from major grocery retailers Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Aldi, and Waitrose, not all sandwiches are created equally, and some may have a surprisingly big carbon footprint for their relatively small size.
NerdWallet looked into the total weight, carbon emissions, and change in meal deal prices of both sandwiches and wraps from the aforementioned retailer giants to determine which lunchtime favourites have the worst carbon footprint, and advise office workers on how to save money on their lunchtime habits.
The five retailer sandwiches with the biggest carbon footprint were:
|
Sandwich |
Supermarket / Retailer |
Total Sandwich Weight (g) |
Total Sandwich Emissions (excl packing and retail) |
|
Specially Selected Bloomer Sandwiches Pastrami & Emmental |
Aldi |
244g |
2,742g (Co2) |
|
Taste the Difference New Yorker Sandwich |
Sainsbury’s |
254g |
2,475g (Co2) |
|
Eat & Go Triple Pack Classic Sandwich Selection |
Aldi |
519g |
2,370g (Co2) |
|
Beef and Horseradish Mayonnaise Sandwich |
Sainsbury’s |
184g |
2,362g (Co2) |
|
Taste the Difference Steak and Caramelised Onion Sandwich |
Sainsbury’s |
211g |
2,310g (Co2) |
The results were fairly surprising, with all of the sandwiches in this ranking having over 2,000 grams of Co2 emissions – that’s a big footprint for a small sandwich, roughly equating to driving 5 miles in a standard petrol car.
NerdWallet then used the same method to calculate the carbon footprints of festive sandwich releases from the same retailers.
