cowboyji's Blog
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Eco Maniac: A Jolly Green Giant...?
- Posted on 05.26.09
In one of the biggest greenwashing efforts we'll ever witness, Walmart is making major moves to eliminate all of its waste by 2025. They aim to reduce, reuse or recycle every scrap that comes into its 4,100 stores. It's no small feat. But, what gives?
Walmart operates on such a massive scale, they can successfully lean on manufacturers. When the retailer wanted to reduce its energy costs (which are its second-highest operating expense), they asked for a more efficient air conditioner. Lennox responded with a unit that beats the Department of Energy's standards by a whopping 60%. That earned Lennox an exclusive contract worth 1,000 units a year. Other manufacturers stepped up to meet the mark and are now vying for deals with Walmart's competitors.
They are now instigating a similar battle to lower costs of LED lights which considerably more efficient and considerably more expensive than conventional lighting, or even CFLs. Reducing their energy costs by 25% is a big deal and not a savings they could ever achieve in the human resources area, try as they might.
But where's the rub? It's Walmart. There has to be a rub.
Well, Mike Hagood, the senior director of Walmart’s Sustainable Value Networks, says, “When I agreed to take this job, I had no environmental background. I’m a store operator.” In fact, it wasn't that he simply knew nothing about sustainability, he was among one of the worst polluters you can imagine: at home he was using disposable styrofoam plates that he would toss after one use. That's not the guy I would put in charge of greening my multi-billion dollar company if I were serious about being truly conscious.
And, in fact, their goal isn't to be conscious. Their motives are purely financial, although not without at least a hint of retributional smite. Charles Zimmerman, vice president of international design and construction, “Really, I don’t care about the PR. It’s about the bottom line, (but) I can’t tell you the feeling I get when I silence some of our critics.”
Their critics include Eric Bull of Walmart Watch who doesn't buy this latest ploy and thinks the suppliers are the ones who will pay the biggest price. “Walmart’s customers drive to these huge stores to buy goods that have been shipped from China in leaky ships – it’s not a green business,” said Bull. “I’m not saying what they are doing isn’t good, but we should be clear about exactly what Walmart does get the credit for.”
Their eco actions include recycling 180 million pounds of paper, plastic, aluminum and other trash annually, plus 2.5 million ton of cardboard; turning waste plastic into resin which is used to make clothes hangers and garden stepping stones; shredding plastic bottles for use as dog bed stuffing; and running 15 trucks biodiesel made from their chicken roaster grease. So that's not nothing.
However, the rub – and there has to be a rub – is that they are still the epitome of over-consumerism and their customers, for the most part, don't pick up those green habits and incorporate them into their lives. So, while Zimmerman doesn't care about the PR, perhaps he should. And perhaps he should use that mighty muscle to do some educating of their masses along the way.
Related causes: Environment
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