EDF and Wal-Mart Partner to Reduce Plastic Bag Use
by Jennifer Berry
Published on September 26th, 2008
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The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Wal-Mart have teamed up to help carry out Wal-Mart’s Global Plastic Shopping Bag Waste Reduction Commitment, the company announced yesterday.
EDF will aid in development of reduction, reuse and recycling initiatives to help the retailer reach its goal of reducing plastic bag waste by one-third of 2008 levels per store by 2013. This could result in eliminating nine billion plastic bags from the waste stream per year.
Due to the world’s consumption of 4 trillion bags annually, marine life, money spent for collection by municipalities, energy consumption, and a host of other sectors have suffered.
“Cutting bag waste is a common-sense solution to an environmental problem that we all see every day,” said Gwen Ruta, vice president for Corporate Partnerships at Environmental Defense Fund. “EDF and Wal-Mart anticipate that the bag waste reduction initiative will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 290,000 metric tons and reduce energy consumption equivalent to 678,000 barrels of oil per year.”
To find out where to recycle plastic bags in your area, use Earth911.
