I’ll believe WalMart is going green when I see it.  WalMart products are inferior, over-packaged and never produced locally even when a better product is available locally.  And a 5% reduction in packaging in 5 years is laughable.  I have reduced my WalMart shopping to only a couple of times a year and that’s not to stock up.  If I’ve already used the gas to get to our largest town I may stop at WalMart to get a few things that I can’t get anywhere else or would otherwise get at my local supermarket at a higher price.  There’s a lot I can do without in order to stick to what I believe, so show us some reality, WalMart.

I have reduced Walmart packaging to zero.

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“I’ll believe WalMart is going green when I see it.”

Ms. Borden, while we may be moving off topic here, I think your comment noteworthy in light of the “bruhaha” Mr. Scott is raising in trying to revamp Wal*Mart’s image as some friend of the environment.

What is happening is some very well researched and adroit work to ploy a position that this company does not deserve yet. I say yet, hoping that for all their PR investment, they actually do achieve some worthwhile results.

“There is a simple rule about the environment. If there is waste or pollution, someone along the line pays for it. For example, if our trucks are inefficient from a fuel standpoint, we’ll pay for that at the diesel pump. If the dumpsters behind our stores fill up with trash, you can be assured that we paid someone to send that trash to us, and we will pay someone to take it away.”
Lee Scott. October 24, 2005.

This is a man one would consider environmentally pro-active?

“And a 5% reduction in packaging in 5 years is laughable.”

Again Ms. Borden, you are closer to the truth than most people realize.
For much of the “reduction” applies to “off the shelf” goods (ie: commodities the consumer purchases) and any concomitant waste-stream that results from consumer use.
While these numbers are nice “puffy and fluffy warm” fodder for PR, they do not accurately reflect the whole truth.

While you may be throwing away less, in YOUR trash, fact remains that to import that item in saleable condition ( resist breakage from shipping and handling), many exporters have had to INCREASE packing materials, so that you can enjoy throwing away less at home.

Essentially what is happening in many instances, is your waste-stream as a consumer is diminishing, while the exporter is adding waste-stream to Wal*Mart.

In the past two years I have noticed a significant increase in Styrofoam packaging materials from imports.
This is an observation only based on my 13 odd years of handling import merchandise on a daily basis, so it is not scientific.
But I do believe in order to pack, ship, and deliver a finished product undamaged to shelves, a product with less “end use” protective packaging, well I think my observations logical.

Furthermore if one is interested they should research how China began banning Styrofoam in many provinces and began a huge recycling system for it. Hmm…..

jonny</script>