Tag Archives: Wal-Mart
Is Wal-Mart saving the planet?
Wal-Mart is getting suppliers to compete on environmental/sustainability criteria – and the bar is already quite high. Now business must know how to excel in sustainability if they want to grow. As well as the business payoff, there is likely to be a great environmental payoff – the Toxics Release Inventory serves as a good analogy – and suggests that pollution will reduce significantly as a consequence.
Lessons from . . . Pond Scum?!
Humans are wired to understand and respond to threats like a lion chasing us down. Climate change, population growth, and other stressors happen too slowly for our minds to get around. Furthermore, doubling rates always seem extremely slow – until it’s too late: pond scum with a doubling rate of one day, would starve the life out of a pond just one day after the pond was only 1/2 covered…
Why now?
You believe you’re doing the right thing and that your way of working is keeping you competitive. But you may want to rethink this. Research has shown that people and businesses routinely overestimate the goodwill others will show them. Take a look at the following cases, and ask yourself to what extent your answers would [...]
Just how transparent is transparency?
by Caroline RennieHow transparent is transparent? Well, how about publishing the webcast of your internal Sustainability meetings and presentations online on a site that has your goals, actions, performance, stories and videos? That’s what Wal-Mart has done here. Mike Duke, the new CEO, speaks to his vision (and how it continues Lee Scott’s) for Wal-Mart [...]
What McDonald’s did wrong, and Wal-Mart does better
by Caroline Rennie McDonald’s could be doing smart, community-building work that builds brand value. But they’re not. Here’s what they’re doing – and what Wal-Mart’s doing better. The story: Nigel Haskel, a minimum wage, 21 year old employee, sees a man start beating a woman in the McDonald’s he works in. He intercedes on the [...]
Your customer goes sustainable – and demands you do the same. Are you ready?
by Caroline Rennie Nestle Waters has told Plastics & Rubber Weekly that it expects its suppliers to be making demonstrable progress towards sustainability: “We are going to be pushing more on our suppliers to figure some of this stuff out” said Kim Jeffery, President Nestle Waters. Are you ready the day your customer tells you [...]
Is government really setting your environmental agenda?
by Caroline Rennie I don’t think so. Business is. Let’s take a look at Bisphenol A to see why.picture source: tree hugger(referring to Ontario’s ban on BPA in baby-bottles) Bisphenol A (BPA) is a monomer used in the production of polycarbonate plastic, among other applications. It is also an endocrine mimic – affecting our bodies [...]
Has e-bay done you a world of good?
by Caroline Rennie e-bay recently launched World of Good – a corner of their site dedicated to products that are certified as sustainable according to criteria available on their site. So what? you might ask. So they’ve saved you a mountain of work. In launching their “sustainable” stream, they have teamed up with non-profit organisations [...]
Leveraging the Environment to save everyone money
by Caroline Rennie Superior Dairy (Canton, Ohio, United States) has developed a stackable plastic milk jug which reduces supply chain costs so much that it is being used by the worlds largest retailers despite consumer complaints. The milk jug that Sam’s Club (Wal-Mart’s discount arm) and CostCo are using has been flattened to virtually remove [...]
Why is Wal-Mart Offering Environmental Audits to Government?
by Caroline Rennie In May, the National Governors Association (NGA), announced that Wal-Mart would run energy audits of the capitol buildings of 20 U.S. states with a view to identifying opportunities to reduce energy consumption. Why would Wal-Mart do this? Because in this way Wal-Mart can build good will with legislators and the public, honourably, [...]