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Along with its visionary goals of reaching zero waste and
using 100 percent renewable energy, Wal-Mart is launching
- or planning - a number of smaller sustainability initiatives
- from the trucks it ships products in, to the coffee on its
shelves.
Matt Kistler, Wal-Mart's senior vice president for sustainability,
spoke at University of California-Berkeley's Haas School of
Business recently about the past and future of Wal-Mart's
environmental initiatives.
In late 2005, the company unveiled its goals of reaching
zero waste, using only renewable energy and selling products
that sustain resources and the environment. "Today, we do
not have clear-cut direction of how we're going to attain
every goal" - Kistler said. As an example of how it's approaching
renewable energy, Wal-Mart is planning 22 different solar
projects to see which work best.
Some of its recent and coming programs are with its fleet.
Although the company is planning to start rolling-out hybrid
trucks later this month, it has already made its fleet 20
percent more efficient than in 2005 by designing aerodynamic
trucks and using auxiliary power units that turn off the engine,
but not the heating, cooling and lights.
To sell more earth-friendly products, Wal-Mart is introducing
a line of environmentally friendly coffee this month. Under
it's private label - Sam's Choice brand - the company
now offers three Fair Trade Certified coffees, one Rainforest
Alliance certified blend and one USDA Organic coffee. The
coffees are roasted by Cafe Bom Dia - a Brazil-based company
that offsets its emissions through CarbonNeutral.
The sustainable coffee roll-out is part of the company's
Earth Month promotion. Throughout April, Wal-Mart is highlighting
its greener products and informing customers how making better
choices - especially on a large scale - can cause a difference.
Wal-Mart is featuring more than 50 products in stores and
500 online
- from transitional cotton shirts, to mulch made from rubber,
to Clorox Green Works products.
The majority of Wal-Mart's environmental footprint, Kistler
said, comes from suppliers. The company has direct control
on about 8 percent of its footprint, with the remaining 92
percent coming from its supply chain. To green its
supply chain, the company launched a packaging scorecard last
year. By filling in information about products' packaging,
suppliers are rated and find out their rank in relation to
peers. Kistler said Wal-Mart works with suppliers, telling
them what they can do to improve and let them know what other
suppliers have done to reduce packaging.
Wal-Mart launched the packaging push as part of its goal
to reduce packaging by 5 percent by 2013. Although suppliers
were supposed to provide packaging information on all products
by the end of February, Wal-Mart has only received information
for about half of its products so far, according to the Arkansas
Morning News.
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