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Wal-Mart throws around its weight to put its products' packaging on a diet
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ryan
over 2 years ago about Wal-Mart
Why is it that cereal boxes are so large, yet seem to always carry half-full sealed plastic bags of cereal? The answer—the same reason as that which has encouraged laundry detergent makes to produce bulky, vibrant jugs of blue, green, pink, or whatever color ooze we believe to clean our clothes best…
Marketing… or more specifically, the illusion of value.
Of course, by employing these marketing methods, the big bottle arms race always ends with one clear loser: the environment. The environment pays the price so that our desires to buy more for less, even though the size is just smoke and mirrors, are satisfied, in two ways: more fuel and more trash.
In an August article of Fortune Magazine, author Marc Gunther notes the many initiatives that Wal-Mart, former environmental and labor relations dartboard, aims to leverage to drastically reduce its environmental footprint, including that of its products. To accomplish this goal, it is throwing around its weight to provide major incentives to suppliers to reduce packaging. One example of which was the decision to offer Unilever the same shelf placement and space, for its “small and mighty” All, which will clean 32 loads of laundry using a product a third of the size of today’s best-selling Tide. This fall, Proctor and Gamble will be following suit by replacing its bulky detergent jugs with shrunken versions as well… creating a new smaller standard for its liquid laundry detergents—Tide, Cheer, Gain, Era, and Dreft.
The result: less trash, less energy used in transport, reduced shipping costs, and the increased awareness of consumers of the environmental impact of super sized packaging, as well.
While Wal-Mart may not ever be recognized as a perfect company, it is certainly leading the charge in teaching suppliers and competitors how to take appropriate steps to reduce the environmental impact of the products they sell. It is just a start, but as you walk down the aisles of your local retailer next time, you’ll quickly realize how much opportunity there is to reduce the environmental consequences of each shopping cart full of purchases.
With the labor activism’s vocal encouragement of Wal-Mart’s adoption of more Costco-like labor practices, might Costco have to follow Wal-Mart’s lead in reduced packaging initiatives? How ironic.
This is a story about Wal-Mart
Other recent stories about Wal-Mart
- Wal-Mart Cereal Isle Boycot
- PUBLIC PROTEST OF WAL-MART CEREAL ISLE PRODUCTS [read more]
- Walmart.com Hangs Up the Phone
- Walmart.com recently (and quietly) launched an initiative dubbed “customer contact reduction” where they intend to deprive online customers of any way to connect with a live customer service agent should they have any questions about their online sale. [read more]
- Concerned for pfamily/personL Saftey, beware WalMart
- Hello all, [read more]
- Wal-Mart Publically Assesses Supply Chain for "Green-ability"
- Wal-Mart will be conducting audits of their suppliers based on a couple major categories that in their mind most impact the environment. [read more]
- Wal-Mart to sell Religious Action Figures
- Wal-Mart (WMT) is about to bring religion to the toy aisle. [read more]
Comments
submitted by rod (verified representative for dotherightthing.com) over 2 years ago
What prompted this? is Wal-Mart getting attacked by regulators or the community… it seems to be a “sudden change of heart”.
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Wal-Mart goes green
submitted by ryan (verified representative for dotherightthing.com) over 2 years ago
Actually, when Matt Kistler and Janelle Kearsley spoke at Net Impact about the birth of CEO Lee Scott’s strategy to create a “green” Wal-Mart, they mentioned that it was interestingly a plan to prevent the next potential “attack” on Wal-Mart.
In a September USA Today article, Scott, who has made himself the figurehead of this movement, is quoted saying, “We asked ourselves: If we had known 10 years ago what challenges we would face today, what would we have done different? What struck us was: This world is much more fragile than any of us would have thought years ago.”
Whatever the motivation, Wal-Mart is pioneering uncharted territory in working to minimize the environmental impacts of Americans’ compulsions to fill shopping carts full of life’s necessities and simple pleasures as regularly as we do. In the bottom of the article, Mr. Scott is quoted, “We know what our goals are. We think we can have an extraordinary impact on the environment.” Scott might be better served in saying that Wal-Mart could have a “less negative” effect on the environment, rather than an “extraordinary impact.” By no means are these activities improving the already existing state of the environment. However, since Wal-Mart isn’t going anywhere, the fact that its leadership is pioneering strategies in environmental sustainability is no parade I plan on raining on.
submitted by wilby34 over 2 years ago
I agree that this is probably good for the environment, but you don’t think that Wal-mart might also be doing this so they can save money on storage/presentation space for the products in their stores?
submitted by waitman about 1 year ago
From what I understand retail shelf space is much like real estate, it is purchased (by companies such as P&G) something like a game of monopoly, but it’s really more like rugby.
If you make the products half the size, you’ll get twice as much on the shelf. I’m not sure about the net effect on the environment. I suppose there’s an argument for less fuel per product, but I’d bet the same number of trucks are moving more product.
I believe these large discount retailers are poison-pills to society. It’s infinite devaluation that’s flat-out irresistible to most consumers, but there’s a sneaking-up karma effect – indeed what goes around comes around, a ying for a yang, and you are what you eat.
The notion of a Wal*Mart world frightens me.
Take care,
Waitman
More tops and more bottoms
submitted by mikewhit about 1 year ago
I think Geometrically this will actually use more cardboard and more plastic. Wal-Mart is not going ship less pcs, so they will end up consuming more raw materials. I think this is simply a business move.
submitted by LaurenS 10 months ago
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