LONDON, July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- OCADO, the independent online grocer, has triumphed in a national awards scheme to find the greenest retailers in Britain.

The OLGAs (Online Green Awards) have recognised Ocado, which processes over 12,000 customer orders every day, for its commitment to environmentally sustainable retailing and inherently green approach to doing business. Ocado won the 'Large Retailer' accolade beating competition from Ebay, easyJet, Marks & Spencer, Kelkoo and Ebuyer.

A panel of environmental experts from the OLGAs drew up a shortlist of the six firms and then asked the public to select the most impressive green online retailer by voting on msn.com.

Jon Rudoe, Ocado's head of retail, comments: "We're very proud of Ocado's green commitment and it's fantastic to have that acknowledged by the public. We will continue to build upon Ocado's commitment to greener shopping, using our influence and experience to help consumers become greener. In the last few weeks alone, we've launched the inaugural Food Waste Awareness Week and revealed research that demonstrates it's now greener to shop online with Ocado than walk to your local supermarket."

The award ceremony took place at Kensington Roof Gardens, London on 24th July.

Notes To Editors:

Uniquely, Ocado does not rely upon a network of stores which use precious land and generate undesirable food waste, emissions and congestion. Instead, to fulfil customers' orders, Ocado has pioneered a system that requires a single distribution centre.

As a result, Ocado's business does not generate a steady stream of supply traffic transporting goods into distribution centres and then onto hundreds of stores. What's more, emissions and energy use are minimised and, because of the unique way the business is organised, Ocado has the lowest food waste levels in the industry anywhere in the world.

In every single Ocado delivery van, there's space for up to 20 families' groceries. Each van does two runs a day which means up to 40 cars can remain parked at home instead of being driven to the supermarket. An Ocado van is guided by intelligent route planning software to minimise travelling distance and uses a fraction of the fuel required by the equivalent number of cars.

Ocado delivery vans have lower carbon emissions than many family saloon cars and customers get the chance to select 'green' deliveries from vans already scheduled to be in their area. This enables Ocado to fill vans to capacity and make each journey more worthwhile.

Receipts are printed on 100% recycled paper.

Ocado is the first in the industry to close the loop on carrier bag recycling. This means that drivers collect used bags from customers and return them to Ocado to be made into new bags. No additional fuel is required to return the bags because empty Ocado delivery vans are destined to return to the company's fulfilment centre at the end of every run. Ocado carrier bags are designed to biodegrade within a year of disposal.

For further information please contact Lucy Hart, ocado@frankpr.it or call +44(0)207-693-6999.

For further information please contact Lucy Hart, ocado@frankpr.it or call +44(0)207-693-6999.