[SINGAPORE] At FairPrice Group’s flagship sustainable store in City Square Mall, shoppers wheel trolleys made of recycled plastic down aisles lit entirely by LED bulbs. Cold items are placed in chillers with closed doors, rather than on open shelves, conserving energy. Prices flash on digital tags instead of on paper.
This is the future of grocery shopping: one where sustainability is built into the customer experience.
FairPrice has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2045, but its ambitions go beyond meeting environmental targets. The supermarket operator clinched the Impact Enterprise Excellence Award in the large enterprise category at the 2025 Sustainability Impact Awards.
Jointly presented by The Business Times and UOB, the award recognises businesses and individuals who have had a positive impact on the environment and community.
“Sustainability has been deeply rooted in FairPrice since our founding in 1973,” said group chief executive officer Vipul Chawla.
“It’s more than a business strategy; it’s part of our DNA, guided by our brand purpose of making every day a little better for all in Singapore.”
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That ethos now underpins a three-pillar strategy built on low-carbon operations, waste reduction and supplier enablement.
FairPrice’s approach extends across the entire value chain, from energy-efficient stores and electrified logistics fleets, to food redistribution programmes and supplier training.
It also filters down to the daily shopping experience, ensuring that sustainability is something customers can see, feel and choose every time they step into a FairPrice store.
Low-carbon operations
At City Square Mall, the store’s green features cut its operational carbon footprint by about 30 per cent compared with a standard supermarket.
Shopping trolleys and baskets are made with 75 to 80 per cent recycled plastic, reducing reliance on new materials while being lighter – a change that lowers carbon emissions during shipping.
Worktops and other fittings incorporate upcycled chopsticks and fabrics, giving a second life to materials that would otherwise be discarded as waste.
By using recycled materials in store fixtures, FairPrice aims to prompt customers to rethink waste and view sustainability as a practical, everyday choice.
This philosophy extends to what’s in the basket.
In 2025, FairPrice introduced an “Easy on the Planet” label, flagging products with certifications such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) paper, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) oil, and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) seafood.
All its house-brand cooking oils are now RSPO-certified, while dry paper products require FSC certification.
The effort has been recognised internationally. In 2024, FairPrice became the only food retailer in Singapore to be named a Sustainable Seafood Leader by the MSC.
Waste reduction
Waste reduction forms the second pillar of FairPrice’s sustainability strategy.
Its IMPerfect Fellas initiative, which sells blemished but edible produce at discounted prices, saved more than 1,095 tonnes of fresh food from waste in 2024.
The Neighbourhood Food Share programme – which redistributes surplus produce to households in need – is expanding from fewer than 20 distribution points in 2023 to 60 by end-2025.
Shoppers are also nudged towards reuse with community bag racks, where they can borrow or donate reusable bags.
“We are continuing to explore innovative partnerships to create a more circular system where edible food is diverted to the community and where waste is repurposed rather than incinerated,” said Chawla.
FairPrice is also making sustainability easier to grasp. Its FPG Go Green Challenge in 2025 drew more than 117,000 participants, who were taught how to spot eco-labels through interactive games.
More than 3,800 shoppers made their first sustainable purchase as a result.
Efforts also extend to children. The Start Strong, Stay Strong preschool programme, launched in 2024 with NTUC First Campus and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, combines sustainability and nutrition lessons.
By the end of 2025, more than 16,000 preschoolers will have gone through the curriculum, helping to build lifelong habits around health and environmental awareness.
Supplier enablement
A third pillar of FairPrice’s sustainability strategy is supplier enablement. “We recognise that we can only achieve our goals by partnering with our suppliers,” said Chawla.
One focus is on locally farmed produce. By getting selected items from farm to store within 24 hours of harvest, FairPrice reduces the carbon footprint of long-distance transport while offering customers fresher, more nutritious food.
The shorter journey also helps cut spoilage, which lowers food waste both in stores and at home.
To scale this effort, the group has built a network of local farmers through initiatives such as an aggregated local produce project with the Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation and the Singapore Food Agency.
This provides more fresh local options while maintaining a diversified global supply chain for resilience during disruptions.
Beyond produce, FairPrice rolled out its Supplier Sustainability Education Programme earlier this year to help small and medium-sized partners adopt greener practices.
It is also developing initiatives to cut Scope 3 carbon emissions by supporting suppliers in their decarbonisation journeys, with a focus on building awareness and driving action.
Scope 3 emissions refer to the indirect greenhouse gases generated across a company’s value chain, such as those produced by suppliers and logistics partners.
Green logistics
Beyond stores and shelves, sustainability also extends to how goods move across the island.
“We are also actively exploring the adoption of autonomous vehicles and electric-powered industrial vehicles in our fleet,” said Chawla.
In 2022, the group introduced its first fleet of 10 electric vehicles, and expanded this to 35 electric vans by 2024.
That same year, it became the first organisation in Singapore to receive approval to trial autonomous vehicles on public roads for cargo transportation – a milestone that signals where the future of retail logistics may be headed.
“We see ourselves as a key contributor to Singapore’s Green Plan 2030, demonstrating that a commitment to the environment and the community can go hand in hand with business success, setting a benchmark for environmentally conscious store design and operation for the retail sector,” added Chawla.
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