Woolworths to stop selling power crazy light bulbs within three years - Greenpeace reponse

Greenpeace today congratulated the high street chain Woolworths after the group announced that power crazy, incandescent light bulbs would not be available in its stores by the end of 2010. From that date only highly efficient, compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs will be on sale.

The Woolworths announcement puts the chain significantly ahead of a recently announced Government voluntary initiative, which would see major retailers remove all incandescent lightbulbs only by December 2011. A Greenpeace league table also shows that Woolworths are now ahead of many of their competitors - see www.greenpeace.org.uk/bulbsleaguetable.

Louise Molloy, climate campaigner at Greenpeace, said: "It's great news that Woolworths have taken the decision to stop selling power crazy lightbulbs by 2010. At the beginning of our campaign, Woolworths clearly emerged as the least progressive retailer on this issue. This decision now positions them with the leaders of the pack. However, we do need to do more. The retail industry must lobby the government for a mandatory phase out of incandescent bulbs - a voluntary agreement just won't be enough to ensure these power crazy bulbs become a thing of the past."

Woolworths has been the subject of an ongoing campaign, orchestrated by Greenpeace, which culminated in the delivery of thousands of signatures to Woolworth's head office last month. In July, Greenpeace volunteers around the country "seized the light" and removed bulbs from store shelves in major cities including Cardiff, Birmingham, Southampton, Leeds, London, Manchester and Edinburgh. Photos of this action are available from the Greenpeace press office.

Greenpeace has been urging Woolworths to "ban the bulb" since the beginning of the year. Old fashioned, incandescent lightbulbs waste 95 per cent of the energy that they use as heat. If every UK retailer was to stop selling incandescent bulbs we would save enough energy to close an entire large power station.

NOTES TO EDITORS

In a letter to Greenpeace, Woolworths recently announced that they "will not be selling incandescent light bulbs by the end of 2010. We will stop replenishing stock of incandescent light bulbs in 2010 to meet this pledge and as such sales in 2010 will be very low."

A 20-watt CFL gives as much light as a 100-watt conventional bulb, lasts up to 12 times longer, and will save consumers around £9 a year per bulb in electricity costs.

For more information please contact the Greenpeace Press office on 0207 865 8255.