Posted by Kelly Smith on Thu, Aug 26, 2010
Seventh Generation is the U.S.’s leading eco-friendly household products brand. Based in Burlington, Vermont, Seventh Generation has made a commitment to both green living and green business for the past twenty years. From making products without toxic chemicals to educating consumers about how their individual choices make a difference, Seventh Generation works hard to live up to its environmental mission each day.
Walmart has shifted its direction to be much more aware of its environmental impact. For the past five years, Walmart has focused their energies on reducing waste and energy consumption and on carrying more sustainable products. Walmart now insists on certain environmental ethics and standards from all of its suppliers. It seems like a natural transition that as Walmart tries to become more environmentally friendly and to offer more ecologically sound products to its consumers that it would want to carry one of the best eco brands.
For a long time, Seventh Generation avoided any association with the largest retailer in the world. But when Walmart began to incorporate sustainable business practices into their mission, Seventh Generation co-founder Jeffrey Hollender saw a way to make his products accessible to a wider audience and to potentially make a big difference in educating people about living in greater harmony with our planet.
Walmart has asked Seventh Generation, the Environmental Defense Fund, and others to help in their mission to become a model of green business practices. They are starting to screen the products they sell in order to avoid stocking items that contain harmful chemicals. They plan to gradually introduce Seventh Generation’s green household products to their stores, with a full offering available through Walmart.com this fall.
Phot via joshspoon
Posted by Kelly Smith on Thu, Jul 08, 2010
In today’s economy, many of us are looking for ways to save money or get a better deal, both at home and in our businesses. Unfortunately, the cheapest choices are not always the best options for our planet. Doing business cheaply can neglect steep environmental costs. Fortunately, this is also a time when consumers are looking for both sustainability and value. Customers are more satisfied with green businesses. For many people, it is worth spending a little extra money to help protect the planet.
For this reason, it is important for sustainable businesses to manage their operations with the planet in mind each step of the way. This means more than just reducing, reusing, and recycling. Companies also need to consider where their physical resources are coming from. Wal-Mart operations are a good example of the need to consider the sources of both products and raw materials. Wal-Mart’s big sustainability push has made Wal-Mart consider the sources of their low-cost products to hold up under the scrutiny of environmentally conscious consumers. Wal-Mart now insists on high standards in labor and environmental practices in the factories they do business with. Chemical dumping and using rainforest wood are not acceptable, for example.
Another question green companies should ask themselves is where their services are coming from. Sustainable businesses should look for services such as green real estate companies, green printing presses, green catering, green IT, and green banking / investing firms whenever possible. Green utilities are even more important. Traditional electricity sources may be relatively cheap, but they have a much higher environmental cost. Purchasing green energy is a choice to purchase a premium product that is better for the environment and helps expand a green customer base.
Some even choose to take the search for green utilities even further by producing their own green power. The University of New Hampshire, for example, is now largely powered by a system that utilizes waste methane from a nearby landfill. This technology is now well enough established that many businesses and organizations could easily tap into this energy source considered to be renewable by the U.S. EPA’s Green Power Partnership, provided they are located near a landfill.
With a little creative thinking, businesses and organizations can extend the sustainability of their operations to encompass both products and services from their source.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Sun, Mar 21, 2010
Walmart recently announced its intentions to reduce its carbon footprint over the next five years by tightening standards for its suppliers.
The largest retailer in the United States said that by 2015, it plans to reduce 20 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions produced during the life cycle of the products they sell around the globe.
"Essentially, suppliers are being asked to examine the carbon lifecycle of their products, from the raw materials used in manufacturing all the way through to the recycling phase," reported the New York Times.
When Walmart suppliers find areas where they can improve energy efficiency, such as in production or packaging, they are the ones responsible for implementing the changes. Critics say that businesses already hit hard by the recession may struggle to pay costs incurred by Walmart’s requirements, while the corporation will reap the benefits without making sacrifices of its own.
The Walmart Sustainability Index, announced last July, aims to chart and reduce the environmental impact of products from their creation to disposal, and to inform customers of how green their products are.Because Walmart is a corporate behemoth, with 1.4 million employees worldwide and over $408 billion in FY2010 sales, it wields a powerful influence over its suppliers. It sells products from cosmetics to home furnishings.
Over the past few years, Walmart has made efforts to improve its green business practices, including the following:
- measuring the green attitudes and practices of its customers
- using more renewable energy sources
- offering local food and sustainable seafood
- experimenting with eliminating plastic bags and installing solar panels
- making a commitment to sustainable sourcing of wood and paper
Some say that the mega-retailer's green initiatives may be more motivated by profit and image management than by altruism. While that may be true, others agree with the sustainability site Treehugger's assessment that "it's getting harder and harder to hate Walmart."