Happy Earth Day!
Hope you have been enjoying my Easy Green Tips this month – because going green in your every day life is easy and the best is that many eco friendly decisions you make also save you money.
And when talking about saving money and going green – I wanted to take a look how Walmart is going green. I understand that Walmart isn’t the first choice to blog about on Earth Day for many, but I happen to be pretty impressed by their sustainability program. Last fall I had an honor to visit the Walmart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, as one of the Elevenmoms, and learned more about their green programs. Walmart understands it’s gigantic size, and sees that when they make changes – they all together make a huge difference in a national and global level.
Did you know that Walmart..
… has hybrid delivery trucks?
… was the company who required washing detergent manufacturers to produce concentrated washing detergent? And now sells only concentrated liquid laundry detergent?
… collects rain water in some of their stores?
… has several stores that are run by wind or solar power and their goal is to use 100 percent renewable energy?
Just selling concentrated washing detergent is a large commitment & has a hug impact on our environment. In three years, Walmart expects to sell more than 800 million bottles of concentrated detergent. As a result, the anticipated savings are 400 million gallons of water, 95 million pounds of plastic resin and 125 million pounds of cardboard. And the good news is that when Walmart decided to do this – all of the other retailers followed, and concentrated detergent is now found in all stores, and the impact multiplied.
EARTH DAY GIVEAWAY
Win these three products from Walmart:
Bissel Little Green Machine ($74.88) is made of recycled plastic is cleans life’s little messes easily and effectively.
Brita pitcher ($29.98) is one of my favorites, I have used it for years.
Cold water Tide ($9.99) cuts your energy bill by letting you wash your clothes with cold water.
ENTER THE GIVEAWAY – EACH WAY = ONE ENTRY
1. Comment with a green tip for Walmart – how you think they could improve their sustainability program . Leave a way for me to contact you.
2. Subscribe to my feed to keep in the loop. Leave a comment if you did. (Just FYI, now is a Very Good time to get my feed, ton of amazing giveaways coming up and you don’t want to miss them!)
3. Stumble, Kirtsy or Digg this post and leave comment if you did.
4. Blog about this giveaway and leave a link.
5. Tweet it using hashtag #skimbaco and @katjapresnal and a link back
RULES:
Deadline for comments/above: April 29th midnight EST. US only. Thanks to Walmart for this giveaway!
FULL DISCLOSURE: I received a product sample of each product in this giveaway. I have tested the Tide Cold water and love the Brita pitcher, but haven’t tested the Bissel yet.
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They need to designate some of their registers as ones for using reusable bags only. Those spinning around bag things don’t leave much room for the cashiers to bag items when people bring in their own bags. Some cashiers get frustrated when they have to bag items into reusuable bags. Some customers BEHIND the person using reusable bags get impatient, too.
I think Walmart should just give away products that have no packaging. I wouldn’t care what it looked like, and the manufacturer wouldn’t have to package it up all pretty if it was free. Also, they need to stop throwing away so much stuff. There is a reason that they have trash compactors and locks on their dumpsters (not from personal knowledge)… its to stop people from taking the perfectly usable, undamaged or very slightly damaged merchandise from the trash instead of buying the exact same thing in the store! If nothing else, donate it all, including the “on the expiration date” food to shelters, homeless, salvation army, red cross, etc. Or, just give it away… silly Walmart, profit is for Democracies, didn’t you know we’re Socialist now?
They need to redesign those bag carousels. When you bring in your own resusable bag they don’t sit well on those carousels because there is no room for them. The cashiers get frustrated and honestly I don’t blame them. It is a horrible design unless you are using plastic bags. I would also love for them to get more organic produce and healthier fish selections. Frozen Tilapia farm raised in China….no thank you!
Thanks for the giveaway!
michele3873[at]msn[dot]com
I would love it if Walmart would add a recycling center to all of their stores to make it easier for their customers to bring their recyclables with them on their shopping trip — this would be especially helpful for residents of cities without recycling programs in place! It would also be nice if Walmart would add in-store displays with tips for customers about the types/brands of products they could buy to “green up” their homes.
Thanks for the giveaway!
I’m a subscriber – thanks!
Stumbled the post (guettel78) – thanks!
Tweeted the giveaway: http://twitter.com/guettel78/status/1649600386
the could be greener by having fair trade products
i use a nylon mesh bag i used when i was scuba diving–i use it when i am doing grocery shopping and other uses//
Walmart needs to stop using plastic bags.
They have way too many, or they need to make it easier to put more
items in the bag so they use less.
I agree with all the comments about the bags. They freely use numerous plastic bags and I’d like to see them make it harder for people to use them; maybe charge people for bags.
Teach cashiers how to deal with reusable bags, and get rid of those dang turnstiles that you have to turn yourself, and make sure that you get all YOUR bags, and inevitably end up leaving one, and have to go back and try to find it. I hate those turnstile things!
They should start a program to encourage people to use their own bags.
Walmart should have recycling for certain items at all their stores – like for plastic soda & water bottles, or old phone books & newspapers. I know that since I shop there, it would be so easy to drop off those items each week.
I think WalMart should use some of their power in the marketplace to convince companies to use recyclable packaging for their products.
yes, program to use your own bag. good idea.
Walmart should offer incentives to bring used plastic bags back to the store and use them within your shopping order
I’d like to see reusable bags at the checkouts. Thank you for the great giveaway!
I think it would help so much if Wal-Mart trained their cashiers to take our reusable bags. It seems to be a case of the customer training the employee.
I’d rather see them improve their produce/veggie quality not make it more expensive. Seems every time I go most of it is rotting.
I think the program could be improved by using their vast influence to require recyclable packaging of all products (small electronics in particular).
I hate plastic so I wish they would use paper bags.
Better packaging at check-out.
I’d love if Wal Mart recycled plastic bags in some sort of large bin.. They recycle car batteries, I wish they’d recycle other small appliances like ink cartridges, printers, anything else that can be refurbished. But the bag recycling tops all- they are such a nuisance!
Am also an e-mail subscriber! Thanks for the extra entry!
Green roofs. The stores are so big, they could grow food on the roof and then sell it in the store. Fresh, organic food from above. It would save electricity in the store, reduce food miles, and save money on food.
Walmart needs to start selling rain barrel kits
jason@allworldautomotive.com
Walmart could do away with their plastic bags countries in Europe and SF, CA have done. Customers must bring in their own bags. In France, if a customers forgets to bring a bag, the supermarkets can sell them higher quality bags (still plastic, but more durable) for a minimal price, about 15-20 cents/bag. This would really work to change customers’ habits to having them consistently bring their own bags. Walmart can take the lead here!
I think if they coupled with area community colleges to foster their commitment that it would be a wonderful thing.
The amount of paper receipts walmart gives out daily. I would use recycled paper but the have customers opt to recieve Digital receipts via email. Imagine the trees we could save. Or at least come up with a buyers card that can have a reciept loaded onto it for viewing online, no paper at all.
I also agree that WalMart seems to want to waster plastic bags (OK not really but…) but my suggestion for them would be to incorporate skylights and green roofs on stores.
they could set up green isles with green products only 2 make people more aware:)
I would love to see them use their substantial power to push all their suppliers to use hybrid and sustainable energy and packaging. Thanks! thebubbledies(at)gmail(dot)com
Stumbled! bluenude3 Thanks! thebubbledies(at)gmail(dot)com
I’d like for them to use paper bags instead of plastic, print receipts on recycled paper, use eco-friendly carts, and create shelving with less materials
Walmart should at least ask the customer ‘paper’ or ‘plastic’ as a starter
I guess I’m going to sound like a repeat performance of alot of the comments – they should be geared to have customers use their own bags.
Everyone has already mentioned the really big thing Walmart could do – make it easier to use your own bags! So I don’t know what I can add… except to add my voice to that request! Maybe just training the clerks to ask first “Did you bring your own bag?” I think that would also prompt other shoppers to remember to bring their own shopping bags too.
I wish that they would use sky lights.
Use less plastics like bags and hangers. They use soooo many plastic bags in a day. Just think of all them bags sitting in a land fill.
Thanks for the great giveaway!!
JH33194(underscore)2002(at)yahoo.com
like to see reusable bags at the checkouts
walmart needs to have more cashiers- ours does not have self-checkouts so they definitely need to have more than 2-3 cashiers open, its very aggravating since its always a busy place.
Like many others I believe they need to make it easier for customers to use their own bags.
i think they should offer recycling bins! i know it has been mentioned but there is no place in my time to recycle so i am all for it
Use natural light as much as possible during daylight hours. Light tubes?
Discount on purchase if you use your own bags?
Stumbled.
choochoo428
Thanks for the giveaway…I think WalMart’s garden centers should compost the store’s waste and provide it to their customers.
It would be nice if Walmart tried to get crater to accumulate our stuffs instead of plastic bags. I love ur blog.
I’d love to see Walmart charge for plastic bags at the store thus forcing people to take their own bags.
The Walmart in Orange Texas was not using toliet papaer in the bathrooms made with recycled materials….shame shame!
OH! Do they really need to have the place so lighted up so bright? Could ‘nt they use a low watts blubs?
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