Leading food retailers occupy five of the top six places in a poll to find the UK’s greenest brands, according to the 2008 ImagePower Green Brands survey.

For the second year running, the Body Shop came first in the poll. It was followed by Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda respectively.

The poll demonstrates that retail brands – supermarkets in particular – are at the forefront of consumers’ minds with regard to environmental and ethical issues.

The remainder of the top 10 was occupied by Dove, Google, the Co-operative Bank and utility company E.ON.

Waste has replaced climate change as the most important environmental issue in the UK, according to the survey.

Despite supermarkets coming out on top, 94 per cent of Britons think products – especially food purchases and groceries – are over-packaged.

75 per cent of consumers say that environmental buzzwords, including “recyclable”, “renewable” and “sustainable”, will have a strong impact on their intent to buy. One in three is willing to spend more on green products.

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