My Plastic-free Life - Topic: Zero Waste Wal-Mart?

Julia on Zero Waste Wal-Mart?

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 07:13:07 -0700

I live in Toronto, Canada, and the city, as well as the country, participates quite will in environmental efforts with recycling, composting, and energy conservation. Recycling is, for the majority, a natural part of day-to-day living, and most people bring their own reuseable bags when shopping (otherwise in Toronto you have to pay $.05 for a plastic bag - this has really deterred people!).

Anyway, I was in a Wal-Mart on the weekend in the north east part of Ohio - I loath Wal-Mart, but unfortunatley needed to pick up a couple grocery items and this was the only place close-by (ugh!) - I was bowled over by the massive displays of plastic junk to buy to fill one's home, the really excessive amount of plastic packaging in the deli and produce areas, and the whole grocery area for that matter, with so many single-serve items, and... by the unconscious use of plastic bags! The clerk actually was putting one and two/three items only(!) into one bag for the customer ahead of me. that customer ened up with about 15 plastic bags! Granted, I should have brought in my one of my own shopping bags which live in the trunk of my car - and boy would I have gotten the strange looks! - but (no excuse) it had been a long and trying day and the thought just slipped my mind until I was in line. I, at least, had the clerk put all 5 of my items in one bag - which I will re-use and re-use and re-use....

Not only in this Wal-Mart but in the nearby hotel where i was staying, it was really dismaying to see the blatantly unconscious use of plastic, with no realization of its immediate and long-term impact. It was sickening. (Heavy sigh....)

Beth Terry on Zero Waste Wal-Mart?

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:46:11 -0700

I hear you! On the one hand, Wal-Mart has the klout to bully other businesses into being "green," but on the other hand, there's more to sustainability than efficiency. A bunch of the Green Mom bloggers wrote about Wal-Mart a while back when they came out with their Sustainability Index. You might be interested in reading what we had to say. Here's my piece:

http://myplasticfreelife.com/2.....ity-index/

And here is the full carnival of posts:

http://inwomenwetrust.typepad......inion.html

Souper K on Zero Waste Wal-Mart?

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 05:38:06 -0700

Testing out the new forum. I read this article yesterday WalMart Moves Toward Zero Waste, Becomes Big Green Giant and I have some serious problems with it. Yey Wal-Mart for moving towards zero waste but it almost feels like an empty victory. They treat the people who manufacture products like crap by demanding bottom of the barrel pricing which translates to the manufacturers treating their people like crap to meet Wal-mart's standards. Wal-Mart may be working hard to not create any waste from their stores but the stuff they sell is often cheap plastic crap. Not to include as one of the largest employers in the country, they refuse to unionize. So yey one gold star for learning about recycling but I am still no fan of Wal-Mart.