Sainsbury’s wins eco award for use of NCR’s two-sided receipt-printing technology

Duluth, Ga. Sainsbury’s, which operates more than 500 supermarkets and 290 convenience stores throughout the United Kingdom, has been awarded the Business Commitment to the Environment Environmental Leadership Award 2009 for being the first European retailer to roll out a receipt printer that prints on both sides of the paper simultaneously.

The printer (NCR RealPOS Two-Sided Thermal Receipt Printer) can reduce receipt-paper usage by up to 45% and consume less power. With this technology Sainsbury’s anticipates savings of 502,000 receipt rolls per year -- cutting its receipt-paper usage by around two-fifths.

Dennis Fuller, Sainsbury’s head of store IT installations, commented, “The BCE Environmental Leadership Award recognizes the efforts that Sainsbury’s and NCR have put into improving the environmental performance of our tills. This includes NCR’s innovative receipt printers, which print on both sides of the paper simultaneously. This technology not only provides environmental benefits, but also provides our shoppers with shorter, more manageable receipts, faster print times and fewer stoppages for receipt roll changes.”

The achievement in winning the Business Commitment to the Environment -- Environmental Leadership Award 2009, follows Sainsbury’s and NCR’s success in winning the European Retail Solutions Best Green IT Initiative Award 2008.

Sainsbury’s has taken the lead in pushing the responsible retailing agenda and is recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2008/09 as being in the top 10% of global food retailers. This has been achieved through a range of initiatives, from helping customers break their “plastic bag habit” by encouraging the use of reusable bags to building a series of environmentally friendly stores and distribution centers. The supermarket has also pledged to reduce its CO2 emissions by 25% per square meter, against a 2005/06 baseline.

To view a video about the two-sided printing technology, visit: http://www.ncr.com/about_ncr/h/sainsburys_video0609.jsp or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXWxwqomGQA.