The Co-op’s Ethical Consumerism report shows UK households are spending an average £100 a month on lowering their carbon impact. The report’s findings include tracking the increase in the total size of the ethical food market from £1bn a year in 2000 to £14bn today, a year-on-year increase of 12%. In the last year plant-based foods saw a 34% increase to £1.5bn at the same time as the Co-op introduced a price-match initiative for its own brand vegan foods against equivalent meat products. The report also found that free-range egg sales topped £1bn for the first time as more supermarkets followed the Co-op’s lead in selling only free-range eggs. There has also been a growth in zero waste shops with approximately over 320 independents setting these up whilst Five of the UK's biggest supermarkets have promised to halve the environmental impact of a weekly food shop by the end of the decade. Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Co-op and M&S said they would reduce carbon emissions, deforestation and the food waste and packaging they produce with many trialing the zero waste approach.
