Wal-Mart vs. Brooklyn Industries

Today’s Women’s Wear Daily (subscription required) has an interesting article examining the “green” efforts of two companies--Wal-Mart and boutique designer/retailer Brooklyn Industries.  Yet questions remain unanswered.  While “Brooklyn Industries got its start designing products out of recycled materials,” why has Wal-Mart has made only promises to be “zero-waste?” What is the comparison between a small local business and a company that has a huge global environmental impact?

“We can’t do everything we want, mainly because we can’t afford it,” Funk said. “A lot of the environmental tactics and certification processes are very time and capital intensive, neither of which a small retailer has. But we want to engage where we can.”

Diametrically opposed to Brooklyn Industries on the fashion, retailing, financial, philosophical and cultural spectrum is Wal-Mart Stores. The world’s biggest retailer and the country’s largest corporate electricity user maintains more than 7,000 stores worldwide, just one of which dwarfs the entire portfolio of Brooklyn Industries. None of Wal-Mart’s traditional stores are particularly well known for their architectural detail or support of local artisans and small vendors.

Wal-Mart is also in diametric opposition to Brooklyn Industries in terms of its overall impact.  By its own estimate, Wal-Mart is responsible for over 200 million metric tons of greenhouse gases each year--a number which the company concedes is growing despite its environmental sustainability initiatives. 

The article is correct in stating that both companies have green initiatives.  However, a closer examination will indicate differences in intensity and results.  Brooklyn Industries has adopted such innovative solutions as “selling messenger bags made out of recycled billboards.”

The checkout register in its Chelsea store was made from scraps from the company’s own wood shop by Scrap Pile, another Brooklyn-based design company, while the wall units and merchandising system were built entirely using scraps and leftover wood from renewable forests in Finland. The floors were made from wood by a lumber company being certified as sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council, and are roughly 30 percent more expensive than a traditional flooring system.

Brooklyn Industries has commendably done everything it can to be an environmentally sustainable company with the financial abilities it possesses, sticking with “the company’s current four-R philosophy of recycle, reuse, repair and reduce.” We marvel at the positive impact Wal-Mart could have if they were to make the same commitment and achieve the same results for all of their stores.

• Click here to Visit Wal-Mart Watch’s Environmental page to track the company’s sustainability promises and join our environmental taskforce.
• Click here to visit our environmental blog for more information.

Posted by Enviro. Team on Tuesday, November 28, 2006