Sears Holdings (NYSE: SHLD), which has been lately for poor quarterly results, said this week that it will reduce the use of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) from plastic packages in its stores. Sears said that it has adopted a policy of identifying more sustainable choices for product packaging in an effort to reduce "environmental risks tied to the manufacture, use and disposal of PVC."
Kudos to Sears here. However, if this story is being pitched as a good piece of PR in a year filled with performance disappointments from the retailer, why now? Chairman Eddie Lampert has lashed out at critics who continue to complain about the horrid retail performance of the combined Sears/K-Mart, although Lampert's use of Sears Holdings as a cash-flow company (as opposed to a retailer) is still under review by the market -- and misunderstood, according to many.
Regardless, every retailer should look at alternatives to PVC for all those hundreds of millions of plastic packages that eventually end up in landfills. Packages that break down naturally should be the packaging material of choice, and when Sears makes this kind of commitment, other retailers should follow. A press release from an under-performing company may be worth more as a motivator to other companies than as a rescue effort for the company's sullied reputation.
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