Britons travel 898 miles a year to shop |
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Sat, 16 Jul 2005 05:05
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LONDON: An average Briton is estimated to be travelling 898 miles every year -- mostly by car -- on shopping alone, according to a government-commissioned study. This has been mainly on account of the mushrooming spread of out-of-town super market shopping complexes, the study concluded.
The study, carried out by the department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra), said while the super stores have spread their reach, the local retail outlets shrunk, making people travel for their needs.
The decline in the number of local shops, said the study, meant that while a generation ago Britons made more frequent visits to local shops, people now are more likely to make fewer individual trips, but to travel greater distances, usually by driving. The "food miles" increased by as much as 15 per cent in the 10 years to 2002.
The increasing number of car ownerships has also contributed to the "one-stop shopping" culture, the other factors being longer working hours and the rise in freezer and fridge ownership.
The Defra report, in a draft called Food Industry Sustainability Strategy, is part of a plan to reduce the environmental and social costs of food transport by 20 per cent by 2012.
The study pointed out to increased pollution, congestion and climate change caused by use of vehicles to reach food materials in the superstores.
Defra said the environmental cost of moving food alone was 9 billion pounds a year, around half of it due to congestion. The quantity of food moved by road has doubled since 1974 to such an extent that nearly 25 per cent of all miles covered by heavy goods trucks is to move food.
The study ascribed three reasons for the increase in "food miles" -- globalisation of the food industry, bigger farms at home and the centralised super markets, which encouraged people to drive by car.
Food and farming minister Lord Bach said the study shows that the issue is complex and that a range of factors have an effect on the overall impacts of food transport. "It provides some pointers for consumers. For example, Internet buying and home delivery can cut vehicle kilometres and reduce road congestion."
Lord Bach said the government would work with the industry to achieve the targeted reduction in the environmental and social costs of food transport.
The study, however, cautions that food miles are not always a valid test of environmental friendliness. Drawing an analogy, it says it takes lesser energy to import tomatoes from Spain, where the climate is warmer and no heating is used, than to grow them out of season in gas-heated greenhouses in Britain.
The mode of transport makes a difference. Food can be imported by sea at lower environmental cost than by air. However, import by air has more than doubled since 1992, the study said, which contributes to 11 per cent of carbon dioxide emission. However, the highest mileage travel incurred to transport food is by car, when individual consumers drive to out-of-town super markets to procure the items.
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