Wal-Mart Labels Will Rate Sustainability of Products
Yale Environment 360, 16 Jul 09
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is planning to place labels on products that will rate them for sustainability, including their carbon footprint, the quantity of water used in their production, and the air pollution left in their wake. Wal-Mart said it will soon ask its 100,000 global suppliers 15 questions about the environmental practices of their companies, including whether the firms have publicly set greenhouse gas reduction targets. Wal-Mart will then use that information, along with independent verification of a supplier’s claims, to give products in its stores an overall sustainability score, including a numerical index that rates goods on their climate impact, pesticide use, and overall environmental damage. Environmental groups praised Wal-Mart’s plan, saying it would force the company’s suppliers to produce their products in less environmentally harmful ways. Wal-Mart has taken several major steps to make its massive operation more environmentally friendly, including significantly reducing packaging, cutting energy use in its stores, and selling only concentrated laundry detergent that uses 50 percent less water in its manufacture.
Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons/oswaldo.
This article originally appeared on Yale Environment 360.
"Wal-Mart said it will soon ask its 100,000 global suppliers 15 questions about the environmental practices of their companies, including whether the firms have publicly set greenhouse gas reduction targets."
since their largest supplier is china, I can't possibly see how this will take 5 years to complete.
Posted by: Thomas Jefferson on 17 Jul 09
Why create another standard that will only be used at one retailer. What about one with broad market appeal, such as JumpGauge Interactive Labeling (http://www.JumpGauge.com/)? Consumers could use it at all retailers, not just Walmart. Interactive labeling also offers greater transparency and knowledge transfer than a simple questionnaire
Posted by: Chris Glennon on 17 Jul 09
I very much DO NOT like the new lables. Makes my cabinets look cheap.
Bob
Posted by: Bob on 14 Nov 09
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