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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Here is an article from Waste News (a trade
journal) that may be of some interest. If we end up with a Super
Duper Wal-Mart, should the community at large push for this?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=4>Wal-Mart outshines the rest
<BR></FONT><FONT size=2>By:</FONT></FONT></STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>
Brennan Lafferty<BR><B>December 05, 2005</B><BR> <BR>Store manager Brent
Allen knew his new Wal-Mart in Texas was special when a woman from Oregon sought
him out and gave him a great big hug. </FONT>
<P>``I am just so impressed that you as a company would take the kind of time
that you are taking and the money it must have cost to build this store to test
these things,'' she said to Allen, who manages the green supercenter that opened
in McKinney, Texas, in July.
<P>The woman and her husband were struck by the sight of the store's wind
turbine as they drove near the intersection of Interstate 75 and U.S. Highway
380. Curious, they doubled back in their motor home to investigate.
<P>Allen, a 14-year Wal-Mart employee, would eventually spend 30 minutes
explaining not only how the wind turbine generates 5 percent of the store's
energy but also the 25 other environmental experiments housed inside and outside
the store.
<P>``[The store] has really captured the attention of people, in general,'' he
said.
<P>Fans and foes of the country's largest employer are easy to find. The $298
billion retailer is even the subject of two films this fall that separately
build up and tear down the company. But some of Wal-Mart's biggest detractors -
environmental groups - are grudgingly singing the praises of Wal-Mart of late.
While these praises may not be a full-fledged hug, they are akin to an
``atta-boy'' slug to the shoulder of the Bentonville, Ark.-based company.
<P>The editorial staff of <FONT color=#ff0000>Waste News</FONT> has taken note
as well. From January through November, Wal-Mart unveiled several broad-ranging
environmental initiatives that could have lasting impact on the company, its
suppliers and the retail sector. From an ever-expanding plastic recycling
project to the pledge of CEO Lee Scott to reduce waste generation and greenhouse
gas emissions, the company thrust itself into a green hot spotlight this year.
<P>So for its 2005 performance and for its future commitments, Wal-Mart has
earned the first <FONT color=#ff0000>Waste News</FONT> Environmental <FONT
color=#ff0000>Award</FONT>. The <FONT color=#ff0000>Award</FONT> recognizes a
company that has made significant environmental progress in the way it operates
its business. While past performance and future pledges were considered, <FONT
color=#ff0000>Waste News</FONT> staff gave the most weight to initiatives
launched in 2005 when choosing its winner.
<P>The feeling is mutual
<P>So what's going on at Wal-Mart? Or more to the point, why has the
mega-retailer made this very public push into environmental management? The
simple answer seems to be that it makes good business sense.
<P>``I believe, in fact, that being a good steward of the environment and in our
communities, and being an efficient and profitable business, are not mutually
exclusive. In fact, they are one and the same,'' Scott said in an October speech
that outlined the company's environmental vision. The CEO, in the same speech,
tackled other high-profile issues like the federal minimum wage of $5.15,
calling the hourly rate ``out of date with the times.''
<P>Environmentally, Scott simplified Wal-Mart's long-range plans, saying the
company wants to be supplied by 100 percent renewable energy, create zero waste
and sell products that sustain resources and the environment.
<P>In the short term, Wal-Mart will push multiple policies, including ones that
decrease waste generation by 25 percent and increase fuel efficiency by 25
percent in its fleet of 7,100 tractors and 44,500 trailers.
<P>When Andy Ruben, vice president of corporate strategy and sustainability,
talks about Wal-Mart's plans, he talks about efficiency. Redesigning a product
and the box it is shipped in, for example, not only eliminates waste and saves
natural resources, it allows for more items to be shipped and can improve
aerodynamics and fuel efficiency for the vehicle doing the shipping.
<P>This type of efficiency, though, requires a commitment from the company's
60,000 suppliers. Ruben indicates that those folks are on board.
<P>``As we have made those changes, a number of suppliers, who in many cases are
leading the way, are starting to share more ideas with us,'' he said.
<P>Wal-Mart started down this path by first gathering input. Executives traveled
around the country and around the world. Scott, the CEO, visited Mount
Washington to investigate climate data. Others visited farms in Kansas to learn
about carbon sequestration. The company separately convened meetings that
included some of its critics. Members of those groups, which Wal-Mart is not
identifying, described their outlook to Ruben as cautiously optimistic.
<P>``It's our job to prove that right,'' he said.
<P>Stephen Hoch, a retail and marketing professor at the University of
Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, downplays Wal-Mart's financial
investment in environment management.
<P>``This really does not cost Wal-Mart very much at all,'' he said. ``So make
the one-time changeover cost and come up with a better policy that sort of helps
everybody in the long run. They are so humongous that anything they do is going
to have some sort of important economic impact.''
<P>Hoch also isn't too concerned with Wal-Mart's motivation for its new
environmental stance.
<P>``I think it does set a precedent for others in the [retail] industry. We see
that everything that Wal-Mart does becomes, in some sense, standard operating
procedure for others, so why shouldn't this be the case too? So let's applaud
them and not worry about why they're doing it,'' Hoch said.
<P>Green welcome mat
<P>The philosophy at work at Wal-Mart's new green supercenters in McKinney,
Texas, and Aurora, Colo., goes something like this: Test dozens of environmental
projects, share the technical data with one and all, and then push the
marketplace into adopting what works. That then drives down prices for the
currently expensive green technology.
<P>The two green supercenters are clearly Wal-Mart's most visible environmental
investment to date.
<P>On the outside of these 206,000-sq.-ft. structures, stop signs and pedestrian
crossing signs run on solar power. Ponds collect rainwater that irrigate plants
in and around the supercenters. Inside the stores, maps and special floor tiles
direct customers to energy-efficient food coolers and waterless urinals. Less
visible are items like the oil recycling project that transfers cooking
byproducts from the deli and oil from the automotive center to the store's
boiler. Other highlights include one-time projects like the recycling of 518
tons of concrete from a Denver airport that was used as the foundation in the
Aurora store.
<P>Don Moseley, Wal-Mart's director of experimental stores, won't reveal how
much more it cost to construct the two stores. He contends the extra costs are
not relevant.
<P>``They have a broad variety of experiments. Some of them are at a scale to
facilitate the whole store. Others are at a scale sufficient to learn about a
specific component or vendor,'' he said.
<P>The costs increased even more because Wal-Mart built in what Moseley called
an exit strategy for its experiments. For example, the company placed plumbing
behind the walls of its waterless urinals in case the experiment doesn't prove
worthwhile.
<P>Regardless of the cost, preliminary data shows the green supercenter in
McKinney is between 6 and 10 percent more energy-efficient than another Wal-Mart
in town that opened almost two years ago, Moseley said.
<P>Monitoring the experiments for Wal-Mart are two arms of the federal
government. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory set up sensors in both McKinney
stores to measure conservation and energy usage.
<P>``We were hired to say the good, the bad and the ugly,'' Jeffrey Christian of
the Oak Ridge lab said in July. His group will independently study the
experiments for three years just as the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden,
Colo., will monitor the Aurora supercenter.
<P>The goal will be to intermittently share the results with anyone who is
interested.
<P>To that end, Allen, the McKinney store manager, says he's directed about 25
tours for business leaders.
<P>``I looked up one day and there were about 45 Target people in my store. I
forgot where I was working,'' he said.
<P>Allen says that alone should tell everyone how serious Wal-Mart is in seeing
their environmental message filter through the business world.
<P>``This is bigger than Wal-Mart. And it's more important. The environment is
what wins in the end,'' he said.
<P>Wal-Mart's green stores put it ahead of the curve. There does seem to be a
small but growing trend of retailers building green.
<P>The U.S. Green Building Council, which was not involved in the Wal-Mart
supercenters, has given some level of certification to nine retailers in 2004
and 2005. Eight other companies, including Target, the Gap and Disney, have
expressed interest in gaining certification from the council, a spokeswoman
said.
<P>Important first steps
<P>Environmental and advocacy groups quickly acknowledge the progress Wal-Mart
has made in 2005. But they want more. They are especially concerned when
Wal-Mart develops on wetlands and farms.
<P>``The big box model of stores like Wal-Mart threaten our landscape and
communities by building on the fringe of town, paving vast areas for stores and
parking lots and often undermining the economic health of existing downtown
shopping areas,'' said Tanya Tolchin of the Sierra Club.
<P>Wal-Mart Watch, a group that monitors its namesake's business practices and
environmental impacts, hopes that the company's initiatives are not ``a
distraction from their other public relations problems.''
<P>``Having said that, Wal-Mart is a leader within the retail sector, and we
hope that these changes prompt other companies to implement environmentally
friendly practices,'' press secretary Nu Wexler said.
<P>Wexler is particularly concerned about the two green supercenters. He worries
they'll close or be converted to regular stores, much like he said Wal-Mart did
to an environmentally friendly store it built in Lawrence, Kan.
<P>A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said the company did operate three environmental
stores in the 1990s. The stores in Lawrence, Kan., City of Industry, Calif., and
Moore, Okla., tested one or two experiments per store. Successful trials for
skylights, low-mercury lamps and sensor-activated faucets in those stores are
now standard in many of today's stores, she said.
<P>But Wal-Mart will be much more open this time around with what it learns at
its two green supercenters.
<P>``That's why these outside [labs] have been hired, so that they can monitor
and report to the public, report to the industry and hold us accountable,'' she
said.
<P>Sierra Club and Wal-Mart Watch spokesmen also said neither group was
represented at the meetings Wal-Mart executives convened in the past year to
listen to and address criticism of the company.
<P>Wal-Mart did run afoul of environmental regulators this year.
<P>In August, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $1.15 million to settle alleged stormwater
violations at 22 of its Connecticut stores. The state Department of
Environmental Protection accused the company of violating clean water
regulations on several occasions between 1996 and 2003. Wal-Mart pledged to
cooperate with the agency and avoid future occurrences.
<P>The future
<P>Look for more environmental progress from Wal-Mart next year.
<P>The company plans to expand its innovative plastics recycling program.
Through October, its pilot project recycled 3.5 million pounds, or 1,750 tons,
of plastics at 10 percent of its stores. The program bales bags, film and
shrink-wrap between layers of cardboard.
<P>Rocky Mountain Recycling and Wal-Mart developed the ``plastic sandwich bale''
system after Wal-Mart asked for assistance finding end uses for recovered
plastics. The pilot program will expand to Wal-Mart stores coast to coast in
2006, said Jeff Ashby, sales and marketing manager at Rocky Mountain Recycling.
<P>Whether the subject is recycling plastics or investing in technologies to
reduce greenhouse gases, Wal-Mart leaders refer to 2005 as a beginning.
<P>``I think we're just scratching the surface,'' said Ruben, the company's
sustainability chief. ``And what happens is the more people that we work with
and the more educated we become along this journey, the more opportunity that we
see.''
<P>Contact <FONT color=#ff0000>Waste News</FONT> managing editor Brennan
Lafferty at (330) 865-6174 or blafferty@crain.com</P></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Andy Boyd<BR>Manager/Education
Coordinator<BR>Moscow Recycling<BR>208 882 0590</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>