Fairprice Group, Singapore's largest grocery and food retailer, has appointed its first chief sustainability officer.
It is the first supermarket in Singapore to feature a specific sustainability department. With more than 100 supermarkets and more than 160 convenience store outlets island-wide, NTUC Fairprice is the largest food retailer in the nation and is operated by Fairprice Group, a company with social entrepreneurship characteristics.
In response to inquiries from Eco-Business, the group announced that Chan Tee Seng, the previous CEO of its food services division, has accepted the new position, effective in January 2023.
It said that the new appointment seeks to make sure that it can contribute to Singapore’s national sustainability agenda “in a more concerted way”.
Chan has held a variety of senior positions within the NTUC and NTUC Enterprise, the trade union federation of Singapore. From 2009 to 2020, he served as the chief executive of NTUC First Campus, a chain of daycare centres run by NTUC.
Chan said: “Sustainability is at the core of our business, along with our social mission to moderate the cost of living for our customers.”
The Fairprice Group now has a sustainability strategy that outlines its three objectives: to give the public with access to inexpensive, wholesome food; to help Singapore's workforce and the poor; and to promote the development of a circular economy with low carbon emissions.
By 2030, it hopes to cut its carbon impact and food waste in half while also saving 60 million plastic bags, according to its 2021 sustainability report. One of the first food retailers in Singapore to implement a plastic bag usage fee was this one.
All of Singapore's major supermarket chains are anticipated to begin charging customers at least $5 for each disposable bag they use this year.