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Sainsbury’s cuts grocery bills in half - literally! |
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Sainsbury’s has taken a giant step to reduce the millions of rolls of receipt paper used in stores each year, by becoming the first European retailer to install double-sided receipt printers on its supermarket checkouts.
The potentially huge reduction in receipt paper is not the only environmental benefit to come from using the new printers. With around 45 percent less paper needed, there could also be significant cuts in the amount of electricity, water and fuel needed to transport it to stores. By printing on both sides of the receipt, customers will quite literally receive half the bill at the till - and if rolled out across Sainsbury’s entire estate, these new printers will save around 90 million metres of receipt paper each year (enough to go around the world over three times). Following a successful trial of 25 of these state of the art new printers in its Maidenhead store, Sainsbury’s has decided to install the machines in all its new supermarkets. As well as the environmental benefits, the new machines also print faster, and the rolls need changing less often, so customers spend less time queuing at the checkout. The printer uses paper with a special double-sided coating that reacts to the heat of the print heads to create the image. It prints simultaneously on both sides of the receipt. The paper is produced from sustainable managed sources, originating from wood plantations or regulated forest, arboreal debris* and recycled saw mill waste. NCR, the company making the printers, has a long history working in retail and pioneered the development of the cash register over 120 years ago. *Arboreal debris is the result of necessary thinning of forests, which allows plant life to flourish |
