Waitrose received a high overall score and came joint first in the 2021 ranking. This is an improvement since 2019 when the company came second. When compared to most other supermarkets, Waitrose has a wide range of measures in place designed to support their suppliers to use non-chemical alternatives. The company has also committed to remove all hazardous pesticides from its gardening range. However, Waitrose is not doing enough to monitor and reduce pesticide residues in non-organic food. As with all other UK supermarkets, Waitrose could be doing more to reduce pesticide-related harms in its global supply chains.

Waitrose has made a clear, public commitment to support its suppliers to reduce pesticide use and has a wide range of measures in place to help them adopt non-chemical alternatives. For instance, the company runs training courses for technical managers and agronomists so they are better able to provide Waitrose growers with bespoke advice on non-chemical pest control methods. The company also told PAN UK that it maintains grower groups designed to bring suppliers together to share tips and learnings on pesticide reduction and non-chemical alternatives. Waitrose also funds and conducts research and other educational activities with a range of UK universities. Unlike some other supermarkets, the company makes the results of these initiatives available to the general public and farmers outside of their supply chains. This provides other farmers and retailers with tips and advice on how to reduce pesticide use.

Waitrose also told PAN UK that it makes efforts to reduce post-harvest use of pesticides through a range of measures including using biopesticides and non-chemical treatment for rots, and ensuring that fresh produce is packed, stored and transported in a way which lessens the need for fungicides (which prevent rotting).

Waitrose has implemented a range of positive changes to its pesticide product range: it has removed all high-risk, synthetic pesticide products from its gardening range, including all glyphosate-based weedkillers. The company has replaced these products with a range of alternatives containing more benign active ingredients such as pelargonic acid and pyrethrum (a chrysanthemum flower extract). It does not have its own brand of pesticide products.

Waitrose continues to lead the way amongst the top ten UK supermarkets in terms of its organic range which offers over 300 products. The company told PAN UK that its market share of UK organic sales has increased to around 24 percent, in contrast to its current share of total grocery sales which sits at just 5 percent.

Waitrose regularly reviews the organic produce it offers, and recently relaunched its ‘Duchy Organic’ range to give more emphasis to welfare and sustainability. The company undertakes a range of activities to boost organic sales, including participating in Organic September. It also regularly communicates the benefits of buying organic to both its customers and staff, including through its various publications such as ‘Waitrose Food’. Waitrose also told PAN UK that “Duchy Organic products provides a donation to The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund, supporting a wide range of projects, including Innovative Farmers”, which runs Farmer Field Labs designed to help farmers overcome barriers to reducing their use of pesticides and converting to organic.

Waitrose continues to do better than most UK supermarkets and is making good progress on removing highly hazardous pesticides from its global supply chain. The company works with the University of Hertfordshire to produce, review and update its lists of specific pesticides which it either monitors, restricts or prohibits from use and has supported growers to switch away from the most hazardous pesticides. The company refers to a wide range of criteria and information to decide which pesticides to restrict, including PAN International’s List of Highly Hazardous Pesticides. It also has some good measures in place designed to protect supply chain workers applying pesticides known to harm human health.

While Waitrose has made good progress to strengthen its approach to hazardous pesticides, there is still work to do to end the use of the most harmful pesticides. For example, the insecticide chlorpyrifos which has the potential to negatively affect the brain development of foetuses and young children currently sits on its restricted list (known as its ‘red list’) but should be banned completely from its supply chains as a matter of priority.

Waitrose continues to make good progress on minimising the harms caused to pollinators by pesticides used in its supply chains. Its ‘Seven Point Plan on Pollinators’ includes: restricting bee-harming pesticides; supporting research on the effect of pesticides on pollinators and alternative non-chemical practices; ensuring that their suppliers monitor pollinator activity and promoting sustainable farming through their organic range. The company invests in research on both non-chemical alternatives and pollinator-friendly growing practices, and asks its growers to monitor on-farm pollinator activity.

Waitrose doesn’t allow the use of bee-toxic neonicotinoids “unless a valid justification presented, detailed risk analysis and elimination plans have been drawn up and agreed with Waitrose”. However, the company still allows the use of a number of other pesticides which have been shown to be highly toxic to bees and other pollinators, such as sulfoxaflor and flupyradifurone. Both of these pesticides sit on Waitrose’ Amber List (which most other supermarkets refer to as their ‘monitored’ list), which means they are allowed to be used as long as suppliers understand the risks.

Waitrose continues to take all three key actions to involve their customers in reducing pesticide use in their supply chains:

• Waitrose sells fruit and vegetables that aren’t perfect in its ‘Little Less than Perfect’ line and told PAN UK that it makes considerable efforts to buy crops that are not ‘perfect’ from suppliers, thereby reducing the need for cosmetic pesticides. The company also encourages customers to buy ‘wonky’ fruit and vegetables through promotion of the range in-store and online.
• In response to complaints from customers who find a bug in fresh produce, Waitrose make sure to explain that this may be because their suppliers are using less pesticides.
• The company also continues to make efforts to promote fruit and vegetables that are in season and therefore more likely to be grown closer to home, particularly through their publications which include ‘Waitrose Weekend’ and ‘Waitrose Food Illustrated’. Keeping supply chains short tends to lessen the need to use fungicides which prevent fresh produce from rotting while they are being transported.

Waitrose have made good progress since the last ranking in 2019 in becoming more transparent about pesticides. The company has updated its comprehensive website dedicated to promoting its sustainable farming initiatives, which provides customers with more information on their efforts to reduce pesticide use than most other supermarkets. It has also gone further and published its full pesticide policy, as well as the lists of specific pesticides that are monitored, restricted and prohibited from use within its supply chains. However, Waitrose doesn’t currently publish the results of its residue testing programme. As a result, it remains impossible for Waitrose customers to make shopping decisions based on which products are most likely to contain pesticide residues.

In terms of mainstream (non-organic) produce, Waitrose only tests fruit and vegetables for pesticide residues and has made no significant changes to the selection of food items it tests since the last supermarket ranking in 2019. It therefore tests a relatively small selection of non-organic produce when compared to most other supermarkets, some of which test items such as rice, eggs, spices and processed food. However, Waitrose does test a range of organic products for residues, including rice, dairy, meat, fish and wheat products such as bread and pasta. It also told PAN UK that between growers, suppliers and its in-house testing programme, “most fresh produce is tested throughout the season”.

In response to being asked how the company deals with the most serious residue problems, Waitrose told PAN UK that it works with the specific supplier to carry out investigations (including farm visits when required) and implement recommendations. The company has recently strengthened its approach to residues and now launches an investigation as soon as a residue goes beyond 50 percent of the legal limit. This is positive since many supermarkets only take action once the legal residue limit is actually exceeded. Waitrose also told PAN UK that it uses the results from its residue testing programme to both inform which pesticides to prioritise for phase out, and to identify which farmers need greater support to switch to non-chemical alternatives.