I was on sympatico msn awhile ago and noticed this article on Wal-Mart’s environmental plan, which critics are saying is just a way for the company to get some ‘positive public relations’.  Others are saying as long as Wal-Mart truly does implement these eco-friendly measures then does it really matter what their underlying motive was? What do you think?
Here are some excerpts from the article:Â Wal-Mart Jolly “Green” Giant by By Ann Monroe
“What can the world’s biggest retailer do to make a greener planet?
“Take just one small piece: Wal-Mart has installed auxiliary-power systems in its fleet of 18-wheelers so that drivers don’t have to keep their engines idling to run the air conditioning when the trucks are stopped. The result? Try $25 million off Wal-Mart’s costs every year. And the 100,000-ton-a-year savings in greenhouse gases from these trucks? That’s the environmental equivalent of taking 20,000 cars off the roads. That’s just the beginning. By 2015, Wal-Mart intends to double the fuel efficiency of its new heavy-duty trucks. That move alone, between now and 2020, would keep about 26 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air and save the company $300 million a year.”
“The company is changing a lot more than its trucks……For instance: Replacing incandescent bulbs in all the ceiling fans on display in the company’s stores reaped savings of $7 million a year. Now Wal-Mart is using in-store displays to promote compact fluorescent bulbs to consumers, and has sold over 100 million of them – more than one per customer – saving enough energy to run a city the size of Philadelphia.Â
Well it’s good that they do something… I still won’t shop there though.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/2/5/121348/3744
The story below is from the link above.
But three of its stores have skylights. How bad could it be?
Don’t let Wal-Mart’s greenish diversions distract you
Posted by Guest author at 3:33 PM on 05 Feb 2008
Read more about: Wal-Mart | business | greening biz operations | greenish companies
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The following is a guest essay by Alex Goldschmidt, online editor at Wal-Mart Watch.
—–
Photo: Lone PrimateWal-Mart has been trying its hardest to distract its environmental critics. In a carefully orchestrated act of diversion, the company shows off its skylights and light bulb sales. In doing so, Wal-Mart has managed to draw attention away from the other, deeper environmental problems lying at the heart of the company’s business model.
Wal-Mart’s public relations efforts help hide the fact that despite all its talk, the company isn’t any greener than it was in 2005 when it laid out a series of company-wide environmental initiatives. The fact remains that Wal-Mart’s energy use is still rising. Until the company significantly reduces the amount of energy used to earn a dollar, its sustainability initiatives remain fundamentally flawed. Several aspects of the company’s basic business model hinder this kind of comprehensive change:
Land consumption and pollution. With the average Wal-Mart Supercenter the size of a football stadium, and parking lots often three times that size, each Wal-Mart store consumes massive amounts of land and the parking lots contribute to water pollution. Multiply that by over 7,000 Wal-Mart stores worldwide, and plans to build hundreds more every year. Wal-Mart frequently chooses to build new stores rather than renovate old ones, multiplying its impact on local land resources.
Car culture. To shop at Wal-Mart stores, consumers must drive cars. Wal-Mart has contributed to a jump of more than 40 percent in the amount of vehicle-miles American households travel for shopping purposes since 1990. Studies also show that larger stores, such as Wal-Mart, pull customers from a larger geographic area, which results in increased traffic — a 200,000 square-foot Supercenter, on average, generates over 10,000 car trips during a weekday, and even more on the weekend. Increased traffic results in increased carbon emissions.
Energy consumption. We applaud Wal-Mart’s efforts to cut energy use in some stores, but the company has a long way to go. Every few years Wal-Mart opens a few greener stores and hundreds of its traditional, energy-draining stores. While Wal-Mart hopes to make its existing stores 20 percent more efficient by 2013, the energy used by the hundreds of new stores it opens every year will significantly offset any savings and its carbon footprint will only grow larger.
Sourcing. Think Wal-Mart buys local? Think again. The company imports the vast majority of its products from overseas — at least 70 percent of its merchandise is from China alone. The effect of this phenomenon is multifaceted. The shipping required to get it across the world exponentially raises the carbon footprint of every product sold in a Wal-Mart store. Manufacturing overseas also means fewer environmental regulations at the point of production. Just last month, a Wal-Mart supplier in China was found to be illegally using protected Russian timber, and many Wal-Mart supplier factories have been cited for environment-related workplace violations. Asking domestic suppliers to make efforts to reduce their carbon footprints cannot possibly compensate for Wal-Mart’s massive global carbon footprint.
Truck fleet and shipping. Wal-Mart not only relies on oil-consuming ocean tankers to ship its goods, but a veritable army of shipping trucks as well. Wal-Mart currently has 135 distribution centers in 38 states, which translates to approximately 120,000 daily truck trips — equal to the approximate number of vehicles that use the Lincoln Tunnel on any given day in New York City. A typical Wal-Mart distribution center that makes 900 daily truck trips emits approximately (according to average emissions rates calculated by the U.S. EPA) 2.4 extra tons of particulate matter and 83 extra tons of nitrogen oxides that enter the atmosphere. In 2005, the company set a goal to increase its fleet efficiency by 25 percent in three years, but the company has not indicated any measurable progress toward that goal.
To fundamentally change its environmental policy, Wal-Mart must address each and every one of these areas and work to reduce the company’s energy spent to revenue-produced ratio. Until now, the company has consistently ignored these deeper issues and focused instead on cosmetic changes and feel-good fixes. Until the company incorporates measurable reductions in each of these areas, its efforts are nothing more than gestures.
The good news is that Wal-Mart realizes that it can no longer afford to ignore its environmental critics. To push Wal-Mart toward fundamental changes in its environmental policy, it is critical that we continue to put pressure on the retailer as it talks about reform and not be distracted by its public relations campaigns. Declaring victory prematurely will only give Wal-Mart permission to evade its commitments. To help keep pressure on the retailer and make sure it keeps its environmental promises, join Wal-Mart Watch’s environmental task force.
Good for them doing Something to help.
Wal-Mart CEO gets 75 per cent raise
From Herald News Services
Published: Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Retail – Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, boosted chief executive H. Lee Scott’s salary and bonus 75 per cent in 2007 after profit rose the most in three years.
Scott, 59, received compensation valued by the company at $31.6 million US for the year ended Jan. 31 according to Securities and Exchange Commission rules, Wal-Mart said Tuesday in a regulatory filing. That included a salary of $1.4 million, a bonus of $8.4 million and stock and option grants expensed in 2007.
What kind of culture do you want?
Interview of Mel Hurtig
“I have a different view of culture than most Canadians. To me it is more than writing, art, music, the ballet, and films. To me, it means: Can you unionize a Wal-Mart store? Can you order paper for your factory without first getting permission from Chicago headquarters? All this relates to our culture,” says Mel Hurtig, who, in 1985, published The Canadian Encyclopedia, the largest and most ambitious project in the history of Canadian publishing.
“The huge extent of foreign control in Canada is unique and it has huge cultural impact throughout our society,” says the devoted nationalist. “No other country is in our position. As two of many examples, nine of out 10 of our top advertising agencies are foreign-owned and controlled, and 90 per cent of the space on Canadian newsstands is devoted to foreign publications.”
To read this article click below:
http://www.trudeausociety.com/home/Lifestyles/2008/03/25/01130.html
Wal-Mart has also started recycling hangers, we’ve always recycled cardboard, and we send back certain containers which get reused over and over again. There are certain recycle policies that have been in place for years, a lot of stores have just chosen to ignore them, but not anymore. Head office has hired a new environmental manager to go from store to store to implement the new and old procedures and keep checking up to make sure we’re following the rules. Wal-Mart does more than most other retailers when it comes to taking environmental measures.
Wal-Mart does more than most other retailers when it comes to taking environmental measures.
Not really. Loblaws has for over 30 years recycled cardboard. They have been recycling fine paper, soft plastic, hard plastic, styrophome for a few years.
Waste meat scraps and produce scraps are pick up and used for feed and other products. Many stores are tied in with a system that lowers lighting and air conditioning when the grid reaches peek levels. Some of the new stores are ‘bagless’ meaning they do not provide plastic bags but only sell recycled permanent bags (made from plastic bottles) or hard plastic bins. Oh yes, they also have an environmental manager that goes from store to store.
Loblaws Green products have been around for over 20 years, not 20 weeks like Walmart.
Truely Loblaws is doing more than any retailer in Canada.
Thought that you would find this interesting.
Canadian firm and Canadian retailer [Loblaws]get mention:
http://www.lvrj.com/living/18924689.html
And even shopping carts, it seems, are going green. Well, not the carts themselves, actually, but the process of getting your groceries and other associated products into the carts, out of them (and back in) at the checkout stand, and then getting them home.
One of the most striking examples was shown by Instore Products of Canada, whose Greenbox bins (and others like them) just could have a major impact on the whole shopping-bag thing. Dean Martin, the company’s vice president of operations, said the company founder created the system 15 years ago. It works like this: A shopper is offered the chance to buy one or more bins — priced at $3.99 to $4.99 — that fit into the Instore shopping carts.
“You can put your produce in one, cleaning supplies in one, meat in one — it’s compartmentalized shopping,” Martin said. When the shopper goes to the checkout stand, the checker can easily take things out of each bin and put them in again as they’re rung up, thereby eliminating the need for bags.
The shopper loads the bins into his or her vehicle and everything stays contained — no bags falling over — on the way home. Once at home, the bins can be taken to the appropriate part of the house for unpacking, such as the utility room for the cleaning products, refrigerator for the meat, etc. The bins stack and can be kept in the vehicle until the next shopping trip.
Martin said the concept didn’t exactly take off when it was introduced, although the company is clearly hoping that the current increased focus on green living will change that. So far, he said, one Canadian chain, Loblaw’s, is using the carts in its 1,200 stores. In six of those stores, bags are not provided; the bin system is the only one used.
Walmart has hired a fancy public relations (pr) firm with the goal of making Canadians think that Walmart shares Canadian values and culture. May I suggest that any company that closes one of our stores, throwing every employee out is the farthest from Canadian. We need to remember what Walmart did to Canada and Canadians in Jonquiere Quebec.
That will forever be Walmarts legacy in Canada.
From the Globe and Mail:
RETAIL
Wal-Mart borrows a page from Tims ad book
MARINA STRAUSS
RETAILING REPORTER
May 21, 2008
“The ad agency that helped make Tim Hortons a Canadian icon is now being asked to bring some of that Maple Leaf flavour to U.S.-owned retail giant Wal-Mart Canada Corp. Wal-Mart yesterday hired J. Walter Thompson, whose sister agency does ad work for Tim Hortons,…..”
“Industry insiders suggested that the discount retailer wants to wrap itself in the Canadian flag,….”
To view this article click below:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080521.RWALMART21/TPStory/Business
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2008/08/c2773.html
Loblaw Launches First Environmental Flagship Superstore in Ontario
Green Innovation Introduces Eco-Friendly Shopping and Prototype for the
Future; Organization Recognized by Ontario’s Chief Energy Conservation
Officer for Efforts in Energy Management and Conservation
TORONTO, July 8 /CNW/ – As one of the North American grocery leaders in
energy management and alternate refrigeration approaches, Loblaw continues to
lead the way in reducing its carbon footprint with the new Scarborough Loblaw
Superstore launch – its first environmental flagship store in Ontario. This
store is a continuation of Loblaw’s long-term commitment towards
environmentally responsible green retailing.
At 120,000 sq. ft., the Scarborough Loblaw Superstore will soon be the
largest food retail store to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design Green Building Rating System)-certified in Canada – and a prototype for
future Loblaw Companies Limited stores across Canada.
“We are excited about the innovative approaches that we have successfully
implemented in this store,” said Mark Schembri, V.P. Loblaw Companies Limited.
“Undertaking the LEED accreditation process for the store has resulted in many
new, environmentally-friendly design approaches that we will also incorporate
in future stores.”
To remove the heat from chilled and frozen display fixtures, traditional
grocery stores utilize a significant amount of refrigerant gas. When these
refrigerants leak they cause greenhouse gas emissions. The Scarborough
Superstore, through alternate design approaches, has reduced this refrigerant
charge by 85%. The store is the first low temperature secondary CO2 system in
Canada and the largest in North America. This will cause an estimated
reduction to the store’s carbon footprint of 15%.
To reduce the energy associated with store heating, the retail sales area
of the store will be entirely heated in the winter with recycled heat that is
rejected from the refrigeration system. This will result in further reducing
the store’s carbon footprint by 7%.
“Residents around Scarborough will now enjoy shopping at a local Loblaw’s
store that is truly unique, the first-of-its-kind, energy-efficient and great
for the environment,” said the Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural
Resources. “Our Government is proud to have partnered with Loblaws, and to
have provided expertise for this new refrigeration technology. This new
technology will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly compared
to conventional stores.”
“Loblaw is changing the face of Canadian grocery retail with their
Scarborough Superstore,” said Peter Love, Ontario’s Chief Energy Conservation
Officer, who today presented the organization with a Certificate of
Recognition for the company’s efforts in energy management and conservation.
“I hope the energy efficiency initiatives incorporated in the heating, cooling
and lighting systems will inspire other retailers to make similar changes.
This will reduce the amount of wasted energy, limit our collective greenhouse
gas production and ultimately grow businesses’ bottom line.”
At the Scarborough Superstore, consumers will enjoy the benefits of a
wide choice of recyclable bag offerings from cloth to bin, secure bicycle
racks and alternative accessibility through public transit – in addition to
Loblaw’s superior range of grocery items from fresh to frozen, including house
brand President’s Choice (for Green, Organics and Blue Menu lines), a new
extended selection of ethnic food offerings and the latest looks from Joe
Fresh Style.
Quote – Natural Resources Canada
<>
About LEED Certification
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating
System encourages global adoption of sustainable green building and
development practices through the creation and implementation of universally
understood and accredited criteria. LEED is a third-party certification
program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and
operation of high performance green buildings.
About Loblaw Companies Limited
Loblaw Companies Limited is Canada’s largest food distributor and a
leading provider of general merchandise, drugstore and financial products and
services. Through its various operating banners, Loblaw is committed to
providing Canadians with a one-stop destination in meeting their food and
everyday household needs. This goal is pursued through a portfolio of store
formats across the country. It also offers one of Canada’s strongest control
label programs, including the unique President’s Choice(R) and no name(R)
brands. Loblaw is one of the largest private-sector employers in Canada,
employing over 139,000 full-time and part-time employees.
About Project Partners
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) champions innovation and expertise in
earth sciences, forestry, energy and minerals and metals to ensure the
responsible and sustainable development of our nation’s natural resources. By
developing policies and programs, NRCan strives to enhance the contribution of
the natural resources sector to the economy and improve the quality of life
for all Canadians. NRCan’s CANMET Energy Technology Centre is the Canadian
leader in clean energy research and technology development, working with the
energy industry, academia and environmental stakeholders to develop, test,
demonstrate and deploy clean energy technologies.
For further information: or to arrange an interview with Mark Schembri,
please contact: Diane Sidik, (416) 847-1316, [email protected], Manning
Selvage & Lee (MS&L)
la la la la la la la la no one cares
~ sun got the tune of Elmo’s World.
I agree.
i think you meant
sung to the tune of …
?
LOL
but regardless … i second that!
Alex has a big hate on for Walmart, Im not sure if hes ever divulged why, but im quite intriqued why you hate walmart so much, pretty much every store is like this lol!
Grocery store to receive environmental certification
http://www.insidetoronto.ca/News/Scarborough/article/51632
BY DANIELLE MILLEY
July 11, 2008 10:08 AM
With its light sensors in the freezer aisle, dual flush toilets and recycling centre, the new Scarborough Loblaw Superstore features many environmentally friendly features never before found in a grocery store.
The new store at Progress Avenue and Brimley Road will soon be the largest retail store to be LEED certified.
Mark Schembri, V.P. Loblaw Companies Limited, said he believes it will achieve LEED silver. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a rating system overseen by the Canadian Green Building Council where new developments can receive certification based on a points system awarded in five key areas: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.
“We wanted to understand the LEED process and understand how our standards compare to it,” Schembri said of why they did this store differently.
Many of the changes are in areas customers will never see such as the oil recovery area that takes grease collected from cooking chickens in the stores, for example, so it can be converted to bio-diesel or the store’s recycling centre that has bins to collect unsold food for composting and materials for recycling.
Currently, Loblaw’s national waste diversion rate is 45 per cent, but the company has a goal of 70 per cent diversion with this new store expected to be closer to 80.
“We still have stores where everything goes in the garbage…We have a lot of work to do, but we’re excited,” Schembri said while leading a tour of the store Tuesday.
Schembri pointed out the energy efficient LED lights used in the frozen food aisle that are on sensors so they’re not on all the time and the screens that come down in the refrigerated cases to keep the cool air contained when the store is closed.
LEED is more complicated than energy efficient lighting and waste diversion. It’s a process that begins at the design stage and focuses on the operations of building. It usually involves a consultant to advise the development.
Schembri said the project cost more than a conventional store, both because of the new features and because of the consultant and certification costs. The company did receive a grant from the federal government for the refrigeration system, which will significantly reduce the store’s carbon footprint in comparison to other stores.
Making changes in the store isn’t just about achieving LEED certification, the changes might cost more at first but in the long run they will save the company millions – with many having a pay back of just a few years.
Loblaw has been investing in energy efficiencies for years. From 2004 to 2007 it spent $7 million on retrofits while at the same time saving $10 million.
They plan to spend $5 million in retrofits this year.
These new standards will be the norm for future stores, but the Scarborough one is likely the only one that will receive the LEED label.
“We’re building to LEED standards, but we’re not pursuing accreditation (because of the cost),” Schembri said.
While the store meets LEED standards and has less impact on the environment than a traditional store, a 120,000 square foot superstore might not be deemed truly environmentally friendly.
Ward 38 (Scarborough Centre) Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, a self described environmentalist, admitted its a valid point, but in the current landscape it’s a feat to be congratulated.
“That’s a true criticism, but it’s a reality of where we live,” he said. “In a perfect world it might be built differently, but I don’t live in a perfect world.”
De Baeremaeker was part of the store tour, but he’d already been acquainted with the store as it’s his local grocery store.
He thinks its fabulous.
“They’ve put a lot of time, effort and money into designing that store to make it as ecofriendly as possible,” De Baeremaeker said.
The ideal of a small market walkable for local residents might be possible downtown, but it’s not for Scarborough right now, he said.
“The nature of grocery stores in Scarborough (is this). I can’t criticize Loblaws for what they do,” De Baeremaeker said. “They’re doing everything within reason, and more, to be as green as possible.”
Schembri explained a demographic study found this kind of store was best for the area.
“Superstores are one of our formats and we’re obviously in business to generate money,” he said.
——————————————————————————–
Employees at Wal-Mart’s British stores were ordered to remove competitors’ fliers from the daily papers, and cover up certain papers when competitors ran front page ads. Unlike in the U.S., Wal-Mart is only the second largest retailer in the U.K., and has been fiercely battling other retailers for months. The employees eventually pushed back against the practice, refusing to comply with such underhanded tactics. If only everyone along the Wal-Mart supply chain had such gumption.
http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2008/09/07/asda-staff-expose-mangers-dirty-tricks-to-sabotage-tesco-adverts-78057-20726837/
Asda staff expose mangers’ dirty tricks to sabotage Tesco adverts
Sep 7 2008 By Michael Macleod
ASDA staff were ordered to take Tesco flyers out of newspapers and dump them in bins as supermarket price wars turned nasty.
But staff blew the whistle as they felt too ashamed to carry out the sneaky tactics. Red-faced Asda bosses yesterday admitted thousands of leaflets were binned at an Edinburgh store.
Workers there claimed bosses even turned down their request to put the promos in a recycling bin.
A member of staff at the capital’s Chesser store said: “One of the people in the cigarette kiosk had to take all the inserts out and bin them. He was really hacked off about it.
“The guy asked the manager if they could at least take the leaflets to the recycling bin but were told not to.”
When Tesco took out a full frontpage advert on a local paper, staff were told to cover the issue up.
Yesterday, an Asda spokesman said: “Unfortunately, it seems that this situation did happen.
“I can categorically state that this is not a company policy and not something the senior management were aware of.
“As a priority, the store manager will communicate with store staff to ensure this situation does not occur again.”
Tesco said: “We cannot comment.”
Asda – owned by US store giant Wal-Mart – had previously set a target of 2010 to stop sending all waste from its 307 UK stores to landfill sites.
They pledged to recycle, reuse or compost all of their waste.
SUNDAY EMAIL
[email protected]
lmao
You all need to watch the Walmart documentary…you can find it online for free I watched it and was shocked!!!I encourage you all to see it.
Tanya
There are some good Walmart documentaries out there. I just watched a Canadian production that followed a group of young people across Canada who are concerned about workers rights, the environment and human rights.
Here are some of the watch groups that monitor the hehaviour of this retailer around the world.
Austin Full Circle
Behind the Counter
Bedford Watch
Big-Box Swindle
Big Box Toolkit
Confined Space
Earth Works
Hometown Advantage
Interfaith Worker Justice
India FDI Watch
Working Life
JR Monsterfodder
Living With Wal-Mart Construction
Moms Vs. Wal-Mart
Neighborhood Retail Alliance
nosuperwalmart.com
Out Community First
Our Town Damariscotta
Purple Ocean
Sweat Free Communities
Stop Sprawl-Mart
The Consumerist – Shoppers Bite Back
Think Progress
Wake-Up Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Associate Centeral
Wal-Mart Movie
Wal-Mart Watch Chinese Blog
Wal-Mart Free NYC Coalition
Wal-Mart Workers Association
The doc I watched a couple of days ago is called Walmart, The high cost of low price. Worth a watch 🙂
Tanya
PBS/Frontline came out with an excellent presentation called “Is Wal-mart good for America” I will provide the link. I think you will find this very interesting.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/
glad everyone has endless time on their hands to talk so much about Walmart. Way to promote them even further! 🙂
I have read a few of the articles on your website now, and I really like your style of blogging. I added it to my favorites web page list and will be checking back soon. Please check out my site as well and let me know what you think. Thanks.
Walmart among top brands blamed for rainforest harm
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0707/1224274191371.html
“GREENPEACE HAS accused Walmart, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and other major brands of “driving rainforest destruction and pushing [Sumatran] tigers and orang-utans to extinction” by using everyday paper products from Indonesia.”
“Its latest report, “How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet”, shows how major international companies are driving the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands by sourcing products from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP)…”