Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) wants its massive cadre of Chinese suppliers to become more "green" in their operations. Since Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott is apparently hell-bent on his retailer becoming the most ecologically-conservationist company in the world, this is a move that should have come in 2006, to be honest. Is it just lip service, or does Scott really intend to tell his Chinese suppliers how to conduct their own internal business?Reducing waste and emissions is the push here. Wal-Mart is already requiring retailer consumer packaging waste reductions along with a whole bevy of other green initiatives, such as making more energy-efficient products and packaging that is more easily recyclable. In fact, Scott has said that he's like to have a company that produces no waste and gets its energy from renewable resources in the future. Those are quite lofty goals from a sprawling organization like Wal-Mart.
Scott will also be tackling the issue of appropriate disposal of waste within Chinese vendors who supply to the world's largest retailer -- a back-end type of initiative that is every bit as important as retail packaging initiatives. Although Scott indicated it "would take a long time" for these green moves to happen within in Chinese suppliers, the faster the better. As Wal-Mart moves more heavily into the rapidly-growing markets like China and India, a new wave of international growth is building under Scott's watchful eye. Requiring suppliers from its largest trading partner -- China -- can't come soon enough.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-14-2008 @ 3:14PM
T said...
Recently an organization in the UK, WRAP tested and published reports on a unique repolymerized material made from scrap tires. Incorporation of the material in tire tread compounds reduced manufacturing cost, energy consumed in the manufacturing process, rolling resistance, heat build up, and wear. Resulting in a ECO Friendly tire that saves gas, Reduced rolling resistance very much improves fuel economy. This material has been developed by a small public traded (RUBR.PK)
rubber research company in Minneapolis. Maybe Wal-Mart should have their tire suppliers look into this stuff and include it in the tires Wal-Mart sells.