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WalMart
| Category: Brand Ratings -> Retailers -> WalMart |
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WalMart Category: Retail Number of Stores: 7262 Sales: $405.00 billion Greenopia Environment Achievement:
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Company Overview: Everyone knows Wal-Mart. With over 7800 stores, chances are you live within several miles of one of its supercenters. Green Efforts: Wal-Mart has made a huge push in the sales of CFL light bulbs. Not only do the stores use the more energy-efficient lights, but they have also sold millions of them. Wal-Mart has also opened several green stores and carries a large number of organic, natural, and ecologically responsible products on its shelves. Wal-Mart is trying to reduce its carbon footprint in each store and is tracking and has developed an ecolabel to help give consumers more environmental information about the products they are buying. Wal-Mart has taken several steps to green its transportation fleet and has over 800 hybrid vehicles (about a fifth of its fleet). Finally, Wal-Mart has been making progress using more renewable energy and is now 8th on the EPA’s list of Retailers using the most renewable energy. Green Issues: The CFL campaign is great, but CFL’s aren’t great if they are thrown away because of the mercury contained in the bulb. Wal-Mart needs to be better about educating about the risks of CFL’s and launch a more comprehensive take-back program. In spite of incorporating some green building design, Wal-Mart still has some design issues. Its huge parking lots leads to runoff which greatly pollutes waterways, and Wal-Mart is still adding stores each year, so although the stores may be getting somewhat more efficient, the company’s overall footprint continues to grow. Also Wal-Mart has the habit of abandoning its stores at the end of life which has numerous environmental and social concerns associated with it. Greenopia Verdict: Wal-Mart has another strong showing in our green retail guide. Wal-Mart has been making steady improvement, but we are eager for updates with their vendor scorecard. |
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