At Wal-Mart, ‘Green’ Has Various Shades
The Washington Post reports on Wal-Mart’s newly released report on the progress of its green initiatives, which despite some partnerships with environmental groups, has mixed results in terms of sustainability success.
The report shows that Wal-Mart’s carbon emissions output grew in 2006 by nine percent, and the company has yet to develop a system to reduce its solid waste output by 25 percent prior to October 2008.
The company has developed sustainable value networks for its employees, which connect them with suppliers and advocacy groups to work on issues such as consumer electronics, jewelry and packaging.
An interesting example cited showing the power of Wal-Mart’s large reach is that the store switched to carrying Charmin 6 Mega Roll packs, which has the same amount of toilet paper as a regular 24 pack but takes up much less space when shipped. The results are that Wal-Mart can ship 42 percent more units, eliminate 89.5 million cardboard rolls and 360,087 pounds of plastic wrapping.
Wal-Mart self-imposed goals of zero waste and renewable energy in a speech by chief executive H. Lee Scott Jr. two years ago, but did not specify a timeline for these initiatives. For more on green business, visit Earth 911′s Business site.
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earthgurl
posted on November 16th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Hey all — just caught your site via the Washington Post article (“sites talking about this topic”). After I read the article, I just got really mad. Why would you commit all these efforts to “greenwashing” us with your PR spin, oh walmart, if you are going to turn around and just INCREASE your carbon emissions? WHy oh why? Seems to me that they are a lot of talk and not a lot of action. Boo on them.