Sainsbury’s is introducing simultaneous two-sided thermal receipt printers in its tills to speed up customer service and achieve a reduction of its overall carbon emissions by 25 per cent in the next four years.

The supermarket chain aims to cut down its paper usage by about two-fifths with the printers – the equivalent to 502,000 till rolls being used annually. Sainsbury’s also expects further savings to originate from cutting down on energy associated with paper production and transportation.

And because till rolls do not need to be changed as often, receipts will take less time to print because they are shorter and more manageable for customers .

Sainsbury’s expects to issue the double-sided receipts in about half of its 823 stores nationwide by the end of 2008. The NCR-supplied printers will be installed in the rest of the store network over the next two years

“Improving the performance of store equipment is just one means by which Sainsbury’s is reducing its environmental impact,” said Angela Morrison, IT director at Sainsbury’s.