Waste
Waste are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance, discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product by contrast is a joint product of minor economic value. A waste product may become a by-product, joint product or resource through an invention that raises a waste product's value above zero. Examples include municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, radioactive waste, others. According to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal of 1989, Art. 2, "'Wastes' are substance or objects, which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national law". The UNSD Glossary of Environment Statistics describes waste as "materials that are not prime products for which the generator has no further use in terms of his/her own purposes of production, transformation or consumption, of which he/she wants to dispose. Wastes may be generated during the extraction of raw materials, the processing of raw materials into intermediate and final products, the consumption of final products, other human activities.
Residuals recycled or reused at the place of generation are excluded." Under the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, Art. 3, the European Union defines waste as "an object the holder discards, intends to discard or is required to discard." For a more structural description of the Waste Directive, see the European Commission's summary. There are many waste types defined by modern systems of waste management, notably including: Municipal waste includes household waste, commercial waste, demolition waste Hazardous waste includes industrial waste Biomedical waste includes clinical waste Special hazardous waste includes radioactive waste, explosive waste, electronic waste There are many issues that surround reporting waste, it is most measured by size or weight, there is a stark difference between the two. For example, organic waste is much heavier when it is wet, plastic or glass bottles can have different weights but be the same size. On a global scale it is difficult to report waste because countries have different definitions of waste and what falls into waste categories, as well as different ways of reporting.
Based on incomplete reports from its parties, the Basel Convention estimated 338 million tonnes of waste was generated in 2001. For the same year, OECD estimated 4 billion tonnes from its member countries. Despite these inconsistencies, waste reporting is still useful on a small and large scale to determine key causes and locations, to find ways of preventing, recovering and disposing waste. Inappropriately managed waste can attract rodents and insects, which can harbour gastrointestinal parasites, yellow fever, the plague and other conditions for humans, exposure to hazardous wastes when they are burned, can cause various other diseases including cancers. Toxic waste materials can contaminate surface water, groundwater and air which causes more problems for humans, other species, ecosystems. Waste treatment and disposal produces significant green house gas emissions, notably methane, which are contributing to global warming. Waste management is a significant environmental justice issue. Many of the environmental burdens cited above are more borne by marginalized groups, such as racial minorities and residents of developing nations.
NIMBY is the opposition of residents to a proposal for a new development because it is close to them. However, the need for expansion and siting of waste treatment and disposal facilities is increasing worldwide. There is now a growing market in the transboundary movement of waste, although most waste that flows between countries goes between developed nations, a significant amount of waste is moved from developed to developing nations; the economic costs of managing waste are high, are paid for by municipal governments. Environmental policies such as pay as you throw can reduce the cost of management and reduce waste quantities. Waste recovery can curb economic costs because it avoids extracting raw materials and cuts transportation costs. "Economic assessment of municipal waste management systems – case studies using a combination of life-cycle assessment and life-cycle costing". The location of waste treatment and disposal facilities reduces property values due to noise, pollution and negative stigma.
The informal waste sector consists of waste pickers who scavenge for metals, plastic and other materials and trade them for a profit. This sector can alter or reduce waste in a particular system, but other negative economic effects come with the disease, poverty and abuse of its workers. Resource recovery is the retrieval of recyclable waste, intended for disposal, for a specific next use, it is the processing of recyclables to extract or recover materials and resources, or convert to energy. This process is carried out at a resource recovery facility. Resource recovery is not only important to the environment, but it can be cost effective by decreasing the amount of waste sent to the disposal stream, reduce the amount of space needed for landfills, protect limited natural resources. Energy recovery from waste is using non-recyclable waste materials and extra
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate arguments and debate policy. FAO is a source of knowledge and information, helps developing countries in transition modernize and improve agriculture and fisheries practices, ensuring good nutrition and food security for all, its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates as "let there be bread". As of August 2018, The FAO has 197 member states, including the European Union and The Cook Islands, the Faroe Islands and Tokelau, which are associate members; the idea of an international organization for food and agriculture emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century advanced by the US agriculturalist and activist David Lubin. In May–June 1905, an international conference was held in Rome, which led to the creation of the International Institute of Agriculture by the King of Italy Victor Emmanuel III.
In 1943, the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt called a United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture. Representatives from forty-four governments gathered at The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia, US, from 18 May to 3 June, they committed themselves to founding a permanent organization for food and agriculture, which happened in Quebec City, Canada, on 16 October 1945 with the conclusion of the Constitution of the Food and Agriculture Organization. The First Session of the FAO Conference was held in the Château Frontenac in Quebec City from 16 October to 1 November 1945. World War II ended the International Agricultural Institute, though it was only dissolved by resolution of its Permanent Committee on 27 February 1948, its functions were transferred to the established FAO. From the late 1940s on, FAO attempted to make its mark within the emerging UN system, focusing on supporting agricultural and nutrition research and providing technical assistance to member countries to boost production in agriculture and forestry.
During the 1950s and 1960s, FAO partnered with many different international organizations in development projects. In 1951, FAO's headquarters were moved from DC, United States, to Rome, Italy; the agency is directed by the Conference of Member Nations, which meets every two years to review the work carried out by the organization and to Work and Budget for the next two-year period. The Conference elects a council of 49 member states that acts as an interim governing body, the Director-General, that heads the agency. FAO is composed of eight departments: Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Biodiversity and Water Department and Social Development and Aquaculture, Corporate Services and Technical Cooperation and Programme Management. Beginning in 1994, FAO underwent the most significant restructuring since its founding, to decentralize operations, streamline procedures and reduce costs; as a result, savings of about US$50 million, €35 million a year were realized. FAO's Regular Programme budget is funded by its members, through contributions set at the FAO Conference.
This budget covers core technical work and partnerships including the Technical Cooperation Programme, knowledge exchange and advocacy, direction and administration and security. The total FAO Budget planned for 2016–2017 is USD 2.6 billion. The voluntary contributions provided by members and other partners support mechanical and emergency assistance to governments for defined purposes linked to the results framework, as well as direct support to FAO's core work; the voluntary contributions are expected to reach US$1.6 billion in 2016–2017. This overall budget covers core technical work and partnerships, leading to Food and Agriculture Outcomes at 71 per cent; the world headquarters are located in Rome, in the former seat of the Department of Italian East Africa. One of the most notable features of the building was the Axum Obelisk which stood in front of the agency seat, although just outside the territory allocated to FAO by the Italian Government, it was taken from Ethiopia by Benito Mussolini's troops in 1937 as a war chest, returned on 18 April 2005.
Regional Office for Africa, in Accra, Ghana Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, in Bangkok, Thailand Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, in Budapest, Hungary Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, in Santiago, Chile Regional Office for the Near East, in Cairo, Egypt Sub-regional Office for Central Africa, in Libreville, Gabon Sub-regional Office for Central Asia, in Ankara, Turkey Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Sub-regional Office for Mesoamerica, in Panama City, Panama Sub-regional Office for North Africa, in Tunis, Tunisia Sub-regional Office for Southern Africa and East Africa, in Harare, Zimbabwe Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean, in Bridgetown, Barbados Sub-regional Office for the Gulf Cooperation Council States and Yemen, Abu Dhabi Sub-regional Office for the Pacific Islands, in Apia, Samoa Liaison Office for North America, in Washington, DC Liaison Office with J
Incineration
Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials. Incineration and other high-temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal treatment". Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue heat; the ash is formed by the inorganic constituents of the waste and may take the form of solid lumps or particulates carried by the flue gas. The flue gases must be cleaned of gaseous and particulate pollutants before they are dispersed into the atmosphere. In some cases, the heat generated by incineration can be used to generate electric power. Incineration with energy recovery is one of several waste-to-energy technologies such as gasification and anaerobic digestion. While incineration and gasification technologies are similar in principle, the energy produced from incineration is high-temperature heat whereas combustible gas is the main energy product from gasification. Incineration and gasification may be implemented without energy and materials recovery.
In several countries, there are still concerns from experts and local communities about the environmental effect of incinerators. In some countries, incinerators built just a few decades ago did not include a materials separation to remove hazardous, bulky or recyclable materials before combustion; these facilities tended to risk the health of the plant workers and the local environment due to inadequate levels of gas cleaning and combustion process control. Most of these facilities did not generate electricity. Incinerators reduce the solid mass of the original waste by 80–85% and the volume by 95–96%, depending on composition and degree of recovery of materials such as metals from the ash for recycling; this means that while incineration does not replace landfilling, it reduces the necessary volume for disposal. Garbage trucks reduce the volume of waste in a built-in compressor before delivery to the incinerator. Alternatively, at landfills, the volume of the uncompressed garbage can be reduced by 70% by using a stationary steel compressor, albeit with a significant energy cost.
In many countries, simpler waste compaction is a common practice for compaction at landfills. Incineration has strong benefits for the treatment of certain waste types in niche areas such as clinical wastes and certain hazardous wastes where pathogens and toxins can be destroyed by high temperatures. Examples include chemical multi-product plants with diverse toxic or toxic wastewater streams, which cannot be routed to a conventional wastewater treatment plant. Waste combustion is popular in countries such as Japan where land is a scarce resource. Denmark and Sweden have been leaders by using the energy generated from incineration for more than a century, in localised combined heat and power facilities supporting district heating schemes. In 2005, waste incineration produced 4.8% of the electricity consumption and 13.7% of the total domestic heat consumption in Denmark. A number of other European countries rely on incineration for handling municipal waste, in particular Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France.
The first UK incinerators for waste disposal were built in Nottingham by Manlove, Alliott & Co. Ltd. in 1874 to a design patented by Alfred Fryer. They were known as destructors; the first US incinerator was built in 1885 on Governors Island in New York, NY. The first facility in the Czech Republic was built in 1905 in Brno. An incinerator is a furnace for burning waste. Modern incinerators include pollution mitigation equipment such as flue gas cleaning. There are various types of incinerator plant design: moving grate, fixed grate, rotary-kiln, fluidised bed; the burn pile is one of the simplest and earliest forms of waste disposal consisting of a mound of combustible materials piled on the open ground and set on fire. Burn piles can and have spread uncontrolled fires, for example, if the wind blows burning material off the pile into surrounding combustible grasses or onto buildings; as interior structures of the pile are consumed, the pile can shift and collapse, spreading the burn area. In a situation of no wind, small lightweight ignited embers can lift off the pile via convection, waft through the air into grasses or onto buildings, igniting them.
Burn piles do not result in full combustion of waste and therefore produce particulate pollution. The burn barrel is a somewhat more controlled form of private waste incineration, containing the burning material inside a metal barrel, with a metal grating over the exhaust; the barrel prevents the spread of burning material in windy conditions, as the combustibles are reduced they can only settle down into the barrel. The exhaust grating helps to prevent the spread of burning embers. Steel 55-US-gallon drums are used as burn barrels, with air vent holes cut or drilled around the base for air intake. Over time, the high heat of incineration causes the metal to oxidize and rust, the barrel itself is consumed by the heat and must be replaced; the private burning of dry cellulosic/paper products is clean-burning, producing no visible smoke, but plastics in the household waste can cause private burning to create a public nuisance, generating acrid odors and fumes that make eyes burn and water. Most urban communities ban burn barrels and certain rural communities may have prohibitions on open burning those home to many residents not familiar with this common rural practice.
As of 2006 in the United States, private rural household or farm waste incineration of small quantities was permitted
Landfill
A landfill site is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial. It is the oldest form of waste treatment. Landfills have been the most common method of organized waste disposal and remain so in many places around the world; some landfills are used for waste management purposes, such as the temporary storage and transfer, or processing of waste material. Unless they are stabilized, these areas may experience severe shaking or soil liquefaction of the ground during a large earthquake. Operators of well-run landfills for non-hazardous waste meet predefined specifications by applying techniques to: confine waste to as small an area as possible compact waste to reduce volumeThey can cover waste with layers of soil or other types of material such as woodchips and fine particles. During landfill operations, a scale or weighbridge may weigh waste collection vehicles on arrival and personnel may inspect loads for wastes that do not accord with the landfill's waste-acceptance criteria. Afterward, the waste collection vehicles use the existing road network on their way to the tipping face or working front, where they unload their contents.
After loads are deposited, compactors or bulldozers can spread and compact the waste on the working face. Before leaving the landfill boundaries, the waste collection vehicles may pass through a wheel-cleaning facility. If necessary, they return to the weighbridge for re-weighing without their load; the weighing process can assemble statistics on the daily incoming waste tonnage, which databases can retain for record keeping. In addition to trucks, some landfills may have equipment to handle railroad containers; the use of "rail-haul" permits landfills to be located at more remote sites, without the problems associated with many truck trips. In the working face, the compacted waste is covered with soil or alternative materials daily. Alternative waste-cover materials include chipped wood or other "green waste", several sprayed-on foam products, chemically "fixed" bio-solids, temporary blankets. Blankets can be lifted into place at night and removed the following day prior to waste placement; the space, occupied daily by the compacted waste and the cover material is called a daily cell.
Waste compaction is critical to extending the life of the landfill. Factors such as waste compressibility, waste-layer thickness and the number of passes of the compactor over the waste affect the waste densities; the term landfill is shorthand for a municipal landfill or sanitary landfill. These facilities were first introduced early in the 20th century, but gained wide use in the 1960s and'70s, in an effort to eliminate open dumps and other "unsanitary" waste disposal practices; the sanitary landfill is an engineered facility that confines waste. But, not all it does, it is a biological reactor in which microbes break down complex organic waste into simpler, less toxic compounds over time. These reactors must be operated according to regulatory standards and guidelines. Aerobic decomposition is the first stage by which wastes are broken down in a landfill; these are followed by four stages of anaerobic degradation. Solid organic material in solid phase decays as larger organic molecules degrade into smaller molecules.
These smaller organic molecules begin to dissolve and move to the liquid phase, followed by hydrolysis of these organic molecules, the hydrolyzed compounds undergo transformation and volatilization as carbon dioxide and methane, with rest of the waste remaining in solid and liquid phases. During the early phases, little material volume reaches the leachate, as the biodegradable organic matter of the waste undergoes a rapid decrease in volume. Meanwhile, the leachate's chemical oxygen demand increases with increasing concentrations of the more recalcitrant compounds compared to the more reactive compounds in the leachate. Successful conversion and stabilization of the waste depends on how well microbial populations function in syntrophy, i.e. an interaction of different populations to provide each other's nutritional needs.: The life cycle of a municipal landfill undergoes five distinct phases: Phase I - Initial adjustment: As the waste is placed in the landfill, the void spaces contain high volumes of molecular oxygen.
With added and compacted wastes, the O2 content of the landfill bioreactor strata decreases. Microbial populations grow, density increases. Aerobic biodegradation dominates, i.e. the primary electron acceptor is O2. Phase II - Transition: The O2 is degraded by the existing microbial populations; the decreasing O2 leads to more anaerobic conditions in the layers. The primary electron acceptors during transition are nitrates and sulphates, since O2 is displaced by CO2 in the effluent gas. Phase III - Acid formation: Hydrolysis of the biodegradable fraction of the solid waste begins in the acid formation phase, which leads to rapid accumulation of volatile fatty acids in the leachate; the increased organic acid content decreases the leachate pH from 7.5 to 5.6. During this phase, the decomposition intermediate compounds like the VFAs contribute much COD. Long-chain volatile organic acids are converted to acetic acid, CO2, hydrogen gas. High concentrations of VFAs increase both the biochemical oxygen demand and VOA concentrations, which initiates H2 production by fermentative ba
Food waste
Food waste or food loss is food, discarded or lost uneaten. The causes of food waste or loss are numerous and occur at the stages of producing, processing and consuming. Global food loss and waste amount to between one-third and one-half of all food produced. Loss and wastage occur at all stages of the food supply value chain. In low-income countries, most loss occurs during production, while in developed countries much food – about 100 kilograms per person per year – is wasted at the consumption stage. A lot of the time, food loss or food waste is food, lost during any of the four stages of the food supply chain: producers, processors and consumers. Precise definitions are contentious defined on a situational basis. Professional bodies, including international organizations, state governments and secretariats may use their own definitions. Among other things, in what food waste consists of, how it is produced, where or what it is discarded from or generated by. Definitions vary because certain groups do not consider food waste to be a waste material, due to its applications.
Some definitions of what food waste consists of are based on other waste definitions and which materials do not meet their definitions. Lost food may go to landfills, be put back into the food supply chain, or be put to other nonfood productive uses. Under the UN's Save Food initiative, the FAO, UNEP, stakeholders have agreed on the following definition of food loss and waste: Food loss is the decrease in quantity or quality of food. Food loss in the production and distribution segments of the food supply chain is a function of the food production and supply system or its institutional and legal framework. Food waste is any removal of food from the food supply chain, or was at some point fit for human consumption, or which has spoiled or expired caused by economic behaviour, poor stock management or neglect. Important components of this definition include: Food waste is a part of food loss, but the distinction between the two is not defined Food redirected to non-food chains is counted as food loss or waste.
Plants and animals produced for food contain'non-food parts' which are not included in'food loss and waste' In the European Union, food waste was defined as "any food substance, raw or cooked, discarded, or intended or required to be discarded" since 1975 until 2000 when the old directive was repealed by Directive 2008/98/EC, which has no specific definition of food waste. The directive, 75/442/EEC, containing this definition was amended in 1991 with the addition of "categories of waste" and the omission of any reference to national law; the United States Environmental Protection Agency defines food waste for the United States as "uneaten food and food preparation wastes from residences and commercial establishments such as grocery stores and produce stands, institutional cafeterias and kitchens, industrial sources like employee lunchrooms". The states remain free to define food waste differently for their purposes, though many choose not to. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, Americans throw away up to 40% of food, safe to eat.
The definitions by the UN and EU have come under criticism for including food that goes to nonfood productive use in their definitions of food waste. According to the authors of one study, this is flawed for two reasons: "First, if recovered food is used as an input, such as animal feed, fertilizer, or biomass to produce output by definition it is not wasted. However, there might be economic losses if the cost of recovered food is higher than the average cost of inputs in the alternative, nonfood use. Second, the definition creates practical problems for measuring food waste because the measurement requires tracking food loss in every stage of the supply chain and its proportion that flows to nonfood uses." The authors of the study argue that only food that ends up in landfills should be counted as food waste. In the US, food waste can occur in significant amounts. In subsistence agriculture, the amounts of food waste are unknown, but are to be insignificant by comparison, due to the limited stages at which waste can occur, given that food is grown for projected need as opposed to a global marketplace demand.
On-farm losses in storage in developing countries in African countries, can be high although the exact nature of such losses is much debated. In the food industry of the United States, the food supply of, the most diverse and abundant of any country in the world, waste occurs from the beginning of food production chain. From planting, crops can be subjected to pest infestations and severe weather, which cause losses before harvest. Since natural forces remain the primary drivers of crop growth, losses from these can be experienced by all forms of outdoor agriculture. On average, farms in the United States lose up to six billion pounds of crops every year because of these unpredictable conditions; the use of machinery in harvesting can cause waste, as harvesters may be unable to discern between ripe and immature crops, or collect only part of a crop. Economic factors, such as regulations and standards for quality and appearance cause food waste.
Tailings
Tailings called mine dumps, culm dumps, tails, leach residue or slickens, terra-cone, are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction of an ore. Tailings are distinct from overburden, the waste rock or other material that overlies an ore or mineral body and is displaced during mining without being processed; the extraction of minerals from ore can be done two ways: placer mining, which uses water and gravity to concentrate the valuable minerals, or hard rock mining, which pulverizes the rock containing the ore and relies on chemical reactions to concentrate the sought-after material. In the latter, the extraction of minerals from ore requires comminution, i.e. grinding the ore into fine particles to facilitate extraction of the target element. Because of this comminution, tailings consist of a slurry of fine particles, ranging from the size of a grain of sand to a few micrometres. Mine tailings are produced from the mill in slurry form, a mixture of fine mineral particles and water.
The effluent from the tailings from the mining of sulfidic minerals has been described as "the largest environmental liability of the mining industry". These tailings contain large amounts of pyrite and Iron sulfide, which are rejected from the sought-after ores of copper and nickel, as well as coal. Although harmless underground, these minerals are reactive toward air in the presence of microorganisms, leading to acid mine drainage; when applied to coal mining tailings ponds and oil sands tailings ponds, the term "tailings" refers to fine waste suspended in water. Bauxite tailings is a waste product generated in the industrial production of aluminium. Making provision for the 77 million tons, produced annually is one of the most significant problems for the aluminium mining industry. Early mining operations did not take adequate steps to make tailings areas environmentally safe after closure. Modern mines those in jurisdictions with well-developed mining regulations and those operated by responsible mining companies include the rehabilitation and proper closure of tailings areas in their costs and activities.
For example, the Province of Quebec, requires not only the submission of a closure plan before the start of mining activity, but the deposit of a financial guarantee equal to 100% of the estimated rehabilitation costs. Tailings dams are the most significant environmental liability for a mining project; the fraction of tailings to ore can range from 90–98% for some copper ores to 20–50% of the other minerals. The rejected minerals and rocks liberated through mining and processing have the potential to damage the environment by releasing toxic metals, by acid drainage, or by damaging aquatic wildlife that rely on clear water; the greatest danger of tailings ponds is dam failure, with the most publicized failure in the U. S. being the failure of a coal slurry dam in the West Virginia Buffalo Creek Flood of 1972, which killed 125 people. On average, there is one big accident involving a tailings dam each year. Tailings ponds can be a source of acid drainage, leading to the need for permanent monitoring and treatment of water passing through the tailings dam.
Other disasters caused by tailings dam failures are, the 2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill and the Ajka alumina plant accident. Tailings were disposed of in the most convenient manner, such as in downstream running water or down drains; because of concerns about these sediments in the water and other issues, tailings ponds came into use. The sustainability challenge in the management of tailings and waste rock is to dispose of material, such that it is inert or, if not and contained, to minimise water and energy inputs and the surface footprint of wastes and to move toward finding alternate uses. Bounded by impoundments, these dams use "local materials" including the tailings themselves, may be considered embankment dams. Traditionally, the only option for tailings storage was to deal with a tailings slurry; this slurry is a dilute stream of the tailings solids within water, sent to the tailings storage area. The modern tailings designer has a range of tailings products to choose from depending upon how much water is removed from the slurry prior to discharge.
The removal of water not only can create a better storage system in some cases but can assist in water recovery, a major issue as many mines are in arid regions. In a 1994 description of tailings impoundments, the U. S. EPA stated that dewatering methods may be prohibitively expensive except in special circumstances. Subaqueous storage of tailings has been used. Tailing ponds are areas of refused mining tailings where the waterborne refuse material is pumped into a pond to allow the sedimentation of solids from the water; the pond is impounded with a dam, known as tailings impoundments or tailings dams. It was estimated in 2000; the ponded water is of some benefit as it minimizes fine tailings from being transported by wind into populated areas where the toxic chemicals could be hazardous to human health.
Sainsbury's
Sainsbury's is the third largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 16.9% share of the supermarket sector. Founded in 1869, by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, the company became the largest retailer of groceries in 1922, was an early adopter of self-service retailing in the United Kingdom, had its heyday during the 1980s. In 1995, Tesco overtook Sainsbury's to become the market leader, Asda became the second largest in 2003, demoting Sainsbury's to third place for most of the subsequent period until January 2014, when Sainsbury's regained second place. In April 2019, whilst awaiting to merge with rival Asda, Sainsbury's were again demoted into third place as their rival placed second; the holding company, J Sainsbury plc, is split into three divisions: Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd, Sainsbury's Bank and Sainsbury's Argos. The group's head office is in Sainsbury's Support Centre in City of London; as of February 2018, the largest overall shareholder is the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, the Qatar Investment Authority, which holds 21.99% of the company.
It is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Sainsbury's was established as a partnership in 1869, when John James Sainsbury and his wife Mary Ann opened a shop at 173 Drury Lane in Holborn, London. Sainsbury started as a retailer of fresh foods and expanded into packaged groceries such as tea and sugar, his trading philosophy, as stated on a sign outside his first shop in Islington, was: "Quality perfect, prices lower". Shops started to look similar, so in order that people could recognise them throughout London, a high cast-iron'J. SAINSBURY' sign featured on every shop so their shops could be seen from a distance, round-the-back deliveries started to add extra convenience and not upset rivals due to Sainsbury's popularity. In 1922, J Sainsbury was incorporated as a private company, as'J. Sainsbury Limited', when it became the United Kingdom's largest retailer of groceries. By this time each shop had the following departments: dairy and hams, poultry and game, cooked meats, fresh meats. Groceries were introduced in 1903, when John James purchased a grocer's branch at 12 Kingsland High Street, Dalston.
Home delivery featured in every shop. Sites were chosen, with a central position in a parade selected in preference to a corner shop; this allowed a larger display of products, which could be kept cooler in summer, important as there was no refrigeration. By the time John James Sainsbury died in 1928, there were over 128 shops, his last words were said to be:'Keep the shops well lit'. He was replaced by his eldest son, John Benjamin Sainsbury, who had gone into partnership with his father in 1915. During the 1930s and 1940s, with the company now run by John Benjamin Sainsbury, the company continued to refine its product offerings and maintain its leadership in terms of shop design and cleanliness; the company acquired the Midlands-based Thoroughgood chain in 1936. The founder's grandsons Alan Sainsbury and Sir Robert Sainsbury became joint managing directors in 1938, after their father, John Benjamin Sainsbury, had a minor heart attack. Following the outbreak of World War II, many of the men who worked for Sainsbury's were called to perform National Service and were replaced by women.
The Second World War was a difficult time for Sainsbury's, as most of its shops were trading in the London area and were bombed or damaged. Turnover fell to half the prewar level. Food was rationed, one particular shop in East Grinstead was so badly damaged on Friday 9 July 1943 that it had to move to the local church, while a new one was built; this shop was not completed until 1951. In 1956, Alan Sainsbury became chairman after the death of John Benjamin Sainsbury. During the 1950s and 1960s, Sainsbury's was a keen early adopter of self-service supermarkets in the United Kingdom. On a trip to the United States of America, Alan Sainsbury realised the benefits of self-service shops and believed the future of Sainsbury's was self-service supermarkets of 10,000 sq ft, with the added bonus of a car park for extra convenience; the first self-service branch opened in Croydon in 1950. Sainsbury's was a pioneer in the development of own-brand goods, it expanded more cautiously than did Tesco, shunning acquisitions, it never offered trading stamps.
Until the company went public on 12 July 1973, as J Sainsbury plc, the company was wholly owned by the Sainsbury family. It was at the time the largest flotation on the London Stock Exchange. A million shares were set aside for staff, which led to many staff members buying shares that shot up in value. Within one minute the list of applications was closed: £495 million had been offered for £14.5 million available shares. The Sainsbury family at the time retained 85% of the firm's shares. Most of the senior positions were held by family members. John Davan Sainsbury, a member of the fourth generation of the founding family, took over the chairmanship from his uncle Sir Robert Sainsbury in 1969, chairman for two years from 1967 following Alan Sainsbury's retirement. Sainsbury's started to replace its 10,000 sq ft High Street shops with self-service supermarkets above 20,000 sq ft, which were either in out of town locations or in regenerated town centres
